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Baron Stouben. Gov. St Clair 



Samuel A. Otis, 



Roger Sherman, Gov. Geo. Clint^.n, 



Chaiict^Uiir Liviiiffstim, George Washington, John Adams, General Knox 

WASHINGTON TAKING THE OATH AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
April 30, 1789, on the site of the present Treasury Building, Wall Street, New York CitK- 



FIRST LESSONS IN 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



BY 

S. E. FORMAN 

AUTHOR OF "a HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," "ADVANCED 

AMERICAN HISTORY," "tHE AMERICAN REPUBLIC," 

"advanced CIVICS," ETC. 



WITH MORE THAN 
250 ILLUSTRATIONS 



73<^- 




NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1916 



r/7f 



Copyright, 1916, by 
The Century Co. 



JUL 17 1916 



©CI.A433761 

nit ( , 



PREFACE 

In this text I have told the story of America as I think it ought to 
be presented to beginners. Since children are always interested in 
the lives of the great, I have treated the subject on its biographical 
side. The story centers around the men who have been leaders in 
American life. But the book is more than a mere series of bio- 
graphies ; it is in a true sense a history of our country's growth. 

While preparing the Lessons I received valuable criticisms and sug- 
gestions from William B. Guitteau, Superintendent of Schools, To- 
ledo, O. ; George L. Aldrich, Superintendent of Schools, Brookline, 
Mass.; W. A. L. Beyer, State Normal School, Normal, III; Oscar 
H. Williams, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. ; and Mrs. Frances 
W. Marshall, Assistant Editor of the St. Nicholas Magazine. For 
the assistance rendered by these gentlemen and by Mrs. Marshall I 
wish to express my sincere thanks. 

S. E. FORMAN. 

Washington, D. C. 
July, 1 91 6. 



CONTENTS 



LESSON 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 

XXII 

XXIII 

XXIV 

XXV 

XXVI 

XXVII 

XXVIII 

XXIX 

XXX 

XXXI 

XXXII 

XXXIII 



PAGE 

EUROPE FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO 3 

AMERICA FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO p 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS I4 

JOHN CABOT AND AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 21 

FRANCIS DRAKE 26 

SIR WALTER RALEIGH 32 

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 38 

SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. HENRY HUDSON 45 

PLYMOUTH: WILLIAM BREWSTER AND WILLIAM BRADFORD . . 53 

MASSACHUSETTS: JOHN WINTHROP ^g 

HOOKER, WILLIAMS, AND WHEELWRIGHT 64 

THE OLD DOMINION AND HER NEIGHBORS 70 

THE MIDDLE COLONIES. WILLIAM PENN 77 

OUR COUNTRY IN 1750 83 

LIFE IN THE COLONIES 88 

LIFE IN THE COLONIES (CONTINUED) g^ 

CHILD LIFE IN THE COLONIES gc) 

MARQUETTE AND LA SALLE ■• • • • I04 

THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH . . .no 

THE FRENCH ARE DRIVEN OUT OF AMERICA II7 

OVER THE MOUNTAINS: DANIEL BOONE • • I24 

ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES QUARREL. SAMUEL ADAMS . . .130 
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THOMAS JEFFERSON . . 137 
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON . . . .145 
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 

(CONTINUED) 153 

SIX UNHAPPY YEARS: 1783-1789 161 

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON 167 

IN THE DAYS OF JOHN ADAMS . . . .' 174 

PRESIDENT JEFFERSON AND PRESIDENT MADISON 181 

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. ROBERT FULTON 189 

ELI WHITNEY. ANDREW JACKSON 196 

THE LAND BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 202 

PRESIDENT MONROE 207 



CONTENTS 

LESSON PAGE 

XXXIV IN THE DAYS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 214 

XXXV JACKSON AND HIS TIMES 222 

XXXVI THE WINNING OF THE FAR WEST 227 

XXXVII WESTWARD HO! 234 

XXXVIII MC CORMICK, MORSE, AND HOWE 240 

XXXIX WEBSTER, CLAY, AND CALHOUN 246 

XL STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 253 

XLI ABRAHAM LINCOLN 258 

XLII OUR COUNTRY IN i860 265 

XLIII PRESIDENT LINCOLN 270 

XLIV GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE 276 

XLV GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE (CONTINUED) 283 

XLVI ANDREW JOHNSON 289 

XLVII IN THE DAYS OF PRESIDENT GRANT 296 

XLVIII PRESIDENT HAYES, PRESIDENT GARFIELD, AND PRESIDENT 

ARTHUR 301 

XLIX THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY; EDISON; BELL 306 

L PRESIDENT CLEVELAND AND PRESIDENT HARRISON .'. . . .311 

LI PRESIDENT MCKINLEY; THE WAR WITH SPAIN 317 

LTI PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 32; 

LIU PRESIDENT TAFT AND PRESIDENT WILSON 330 

INDEX 337 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN 
HISTORY 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN 

HISTORY 

LESSON I 

EUROPE FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO 

What does the word century mean? In what year did the first century begm? 
In what year did it end? In what century were you born? In what century was 
your father born? A man was born in the year 1798 and died in the year 1902; 
In what three centuries did this very old man live? Locate Paris, Venice, Berlin, 
London, Petrograd. What is a baron? What is a peasant? What is a serf? 
What is a parish? What is a pillory? What is a gallows? What is a vehicle? 

Where American history begins. You are now to study the 
history of the United States and are to learn how this great country 
of ours has come to be what it is. The story of our country begins 
at a time when there were no white men in the Western World. The 
first white men who ever lived in America came here from Europe 
about four hundred years ago. Since this is so, we shall do well to 
begin our study by learning what kind of a place Europe was at that 
time. Let us then in this lesson turn our eyes to the far-off land 
across the Atlantic, and try to see Europe as it was in the sixteenth 
century. 

The countries of Europe in the sixteenth century. If you had 
lived four hundred years ago and had traveled through Europe, you 

3 



4 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

would have found most of the countries bearing the same names that 
they do to-day. The leading countries in Europe in the sixteenth 
century were England, Spain, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, and 
Russia; and, as you know, they are the great nations of to-day. 

The cities. But while you would have found that the countries 
themselves were almost the same four hundred years ago, you would 
have found everything else strangely different. To-day, if you 
should visit all those countries, you would see nearly a hundred large 
cities. If you had made exactly the same journey in the sixteenth 
century, you would have seen only two or three cities that would now 
be called large. Two of the largest places you would have found 
were Paris and Venice, but these were not very big. There were not 
as many people living in Paris as in our city of St. Paul, Minnesota, 
and Venice was not as large as Richmond, Virginia. London, now 
the greatest city of Europe, was about the size of Hartford, Con- 
necticut. You would hardly have cared to visit Berlin in the sixteenth 
century, for Berlin was then only a village where some fishermen lived. 
You certainly would not have visited Petrograd, for as yet there was 
no such place ; the spot on which Petrograd now stands was a swamp. 
So, when thinking of the Europe of the sixteenth century, try to for- 
get the great cities of to-day, and picture in your mind a Europe in 
which the people lived in the open country and in towns and villages. 

Country life in Europe in the sixteenth century. On this 
journey of four centuries ago you would have found everywhere that 
the chief occupation of the people was farming. Most of the farms 
were very large, some of them containing many thousands of acres. 
The owner of a great estate was often known as a baron or a lord, 
and he lived in a castle or in a manor-house. If you had visited a 
castle, you would have found that it was large and roomy, but that it 
was a very uncomfortable place in which to live. You would have 



EUROPE FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO 




"-^^SH'* 



Serfs at work. 



found no pipes for running water, no tub for taking a bath, no stoves 
for heating, no good lamps for Hghting. If you had walked over one 
of the large estates, you would have seen the peasants working in the 
fields ; and it is likely you would have 
pitied them, for usually the peas- 
ants were treated very badly. They 
worked hard for the lord, but they re- 
ceived little pay for their labor. In 
some of the countries the men who 
worked for the lord were serfs. The 
lot of the serf was*even harder than 
the lot of the peasant, for the serf was 
almost a slave. The peasant could move from place to place, but the 
serf was compelled to remain on the estate where he was born and 
work all his life for the lord. 

City life in the sixteenth century. When the traveler left the 
open country to visit a city, he found the city surrounded by a high 
wall, built to protect the people from the attacks of an enemy. At 
several places in the wall were large gates through which people came 
into the city. At night the gates were locked, and no one was allowed 
to pass in or out. 

When our traveler entered the city, he found the streets very nar- 
row, very dirty, and very poorly paved. As he walked along, he was 
annoyed by cows and pigs and ducks and chickens running about the 
streets. Near the center of the city stood a fine church with pointed 
spires. The church was always a Catholic church, for you must know 
that nearly everybody in Europe in the early part of the sixteenth 
century was a Catholic. Near the church was a parish school in 
which a few children learned the catechism and a little reading, writ- 
ing, and arithmetic. But there were no fine public schools such as 



6 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

would be seen to-day. In those times only a very small number of 
people enjoyed the blessings of an education. 

As our traveler wandered through the city, he saw some things 
which to-day are no longer seen. Here a poor fellow who had done 
something wrong was standing in a pillory, his head and hands held 
fast by a block of wood. There a woman who had scolded her neigh- 
bors too much was sitting on a ducking-stool and was being ducked in 
a pool of water. At another place there dangled from a gallows the 
body of a man who had committed theft. 




An old time street scene in Europe. 

The traveler gladly turned his eyes from these unpleasant sights 
and watched the people as they went about their daily work. And 
what a beehive of industry the city was ! There was spinning and 
weaving, the tanning of hides, the making of shoes, and the forging 
of iron. But the traveler saw no great factories such as we see to-day. 
Almost everything was made in little shops where only two or three 
workmen were employed and where almost every kind of work was 
done by hand, for men had not yet learned the uses of steam. And 



EUROPE FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO 




the traveler saw no great stores in which many different kinds of 
things could be bought, for goods were sold at the same little shops 
in which they were made. Out on the street in 
front of the shops were tables on which articles for 
sale were spread. On one table there were shoes, 
on another table, gloves, on another table, clothes. 
Travel in the sixteenth century. There was 
another thing you would not have seen on the 
streets of a city four hundred years ago. You 
would not have seen a vehicle in which you could 
take a comfortable ride. You would have seen 
no street-cars, or automobiles, or light-running 
carriages. You might by chance have seen a 
heavy, slow-moving coach, but even coaches were 
scarce in those days. In 1550 there were but ^^"'^^"^ ^" '^' p"^°'^- 
three coaches in Paris, and in London there was but one. 

Traveling was done on horseback or in clumsy two-wheeled carts. 
Carriages like ours would have been of little use, for in almost every 
part of Europe the roads were very bad. On some of them there 
were holes so deep that it was impossible for any kind of vehicle to 
pass, while in wet weather the mud was so deep that horses some- 
times would sink into it up to their knees. Of 
course, traveling was very slow. If one made 
four miles an hour he was lucky. 

Europe of the sixteenth century com- 
pared with the Europe of to-day. Thus you 
see that Europe four hundred years ago was 
not the kind of place it is to-day. The popu- 
lation was small and most of the people lived scattered on farms or 
in villages and towns. To-day in Europe there are hundreds of mil- 




An old time coach. 



8 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

lions of people, most of them living in crowded cities. In the six- 
teenth century a city of Europe was a place of narrow, ugly streets, 
and mean little houses and shops. To-day a city of Europe has wide, 
beautiful streets, tall factories, and beautiful shops. Four hundred 
years ago there were in Europe large numbers of peasants and serfs, 
who were treated almost as badly as if they were slaves. To-day there 
are no serfs in Europe and men are free and are treated as free men 
ought to be treated. 

1. Why should we begin the study of United States history with a study of 
Europe ? 

2. What were the leading countries in Europe in the sixteenth century? 

3. What can you say about the leading cities in Europe in the sixteenth century? 

4. Describe country life in Europe in the sixteenth century. 

5. Describe city life in Europe in the sixteenth century. 

6. What kind of vehicles and roads did they have in Europe four hundred years 



ago 



7. Compare the Europe of the sixteenth century with the Europe of to-day. 




.1 




'■'^^W •''■> *-»-"** -4'',, 




OUR COUNTRY BEFO; 




E WHITE MAN CAME 



LESSON II 

AMERICA FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO 

Bound the United States. Name the great mountain-ranges of our country and 
also the great rivers and the great lakes. Name all the principal rivers that flow into 
the Atlantic Ocean. What is a prairie? Name the races of mankind according to 
their color. What is a squaw? What is a moccasin? 

You learned in the first lesson what kind of a place Europe was at 
the time when white men first began to leave that continent and come 
to America. In this lesson you are to learn what kind of a place 
America was when the white men from Europe began to land upon 
our shores. You may be sure our country at that time was strangely 
different from what it is to-day. 

Our country a great forest. The double-page map found be- 
tween pages 8 and 9 will give you an idea of how our country 
looked about the year 1500. On the map you see the same natural 
features, the same coast-lines, mountains, valleys, lakes, and rivers 
that you see on a map of the United States to-day, but otherwise it 
looks strange indeed. It shows, you observe, a country almost en- 
tirely covered with trees. Toward the west, it is true, there are open 
spaces here and there upon which no trees are standing. These 
are the prairies. The prairie lands were robbed of their trees by 
great forest fires which swept over the western country many ages 
before the white man came. Everywhere, except upon the prairies, 
it was trees, trees, trees. So you must bear this fact in mind when 
studying our early history, and try to think of our country as being 
a vast, dense, dark forest. 

9 



10 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Animals and birds. The map shows that this great forest was 
aHve with animals and birds. There were rabbits, squirrels, racoons, 
foxes, bears, wolves, panthers, deer, elk, and buffalo. Many of the 
animals, such as the badger, the wolverine, the beaver, the otter, and 
the sable, were excellent for their fur. In the branches of the trees 
there were eagles, hawks, owls, pigeons, and wild turkeys. The 
wild turkeys were very large. A single turkey sometimes weighed 
as much as three or four such as we have on our tables to-day. The 
wild pigeons were seen in great numbers ; sometimes in flocks so large 
that they darkened the sky in their flight. The smaller birds, such as 
wrens, robins, jays, thrushes, mocking-birds, made such a din with 
their chattering and singing that a person walking through the forest 
could scarcely hear his own voice. In the streams that ran through 
the forest there were plenty of fish — perch, pike, trout, salmon, shad, 
bass. *' In New England," a writer tells us, " I myself at the turning 
of the tide have seen such multitudes of sea bass that it seemed to me 
that one might go over their backs dry-shod." 

The red men. But far more interesting and important than the 
birds or the animals were the human beings who roamed through the 
forest. These were the red men, or Indians.^ The map shows that, 
when our history began, Indians were found in all parts of our coun- 
try. Where the Indians came from and how long they had lived 
here, we do not know. We only know they were here when the white 
men came and were the only human beings in the Western World. 

The dress of the Indians. What kind of people were these 
Indians? What kind of a life did they lead? Five hundred years 
ago most of the Indians who lived in what is now the United States 
were wild and uncivilized. They were clad in the coarsest kind of 
garments or in the skins of animals. They decorated themselves with 

1 Why the red men were called Indians you will learn hereafter (p. 19). 



AMERICA FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO 



II 




feathers, beads, and porcupine-quills. The squaws wore their hair 
long", but the men cut off all their hair except a small tuft at the top, 
known as the scalp-lock. This was left upon 
the head as an emblem of defiance. The scalp- 
lock seemed to say, " Take me if you can." 
And it was surely taken if the enemy fell in 
battle, for the Indians always cut off the scalp- 
locks of their foes and carried them away as 
trophies of war. 

Dwellings and food of the Indians. The 
house of the Indians was usually a rude dwell- 
ing called a wigwam. The frame of the wig- 

A squaw carrying her child. ^^^ ^^g j^^Jg l^y planting polcS iu thc grOUUd 

in the form of a circle, and bending them toward each other and fas- 
tening them together at the top. This was covered with the bark 
of trees or with the skins of animals. The wigwam had no windows 
and was a smoky, dirty 
place in which men, women, 
and children were huddled 
together. The Iroquois In- 
dians lived in long, low 
houses which resembled an 
arbor over a garden walk. 
Some of these houses of 
the Iroquois were more 
than two hundred feet in 
length. 

For food the Indian did 
not suffer, for in the forest he could find plenty of game and in the 
streams he could catch plenty of fish. With little trouble he could 




A long house of the Iroquois. 



12 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




An Indian warrior. 



raise maize (Indian corn), beans, and pumpkins. Then all around 
him were nuts and wild berries which he could have without labor 
and without price. But although the Indians had plenty of food, 
they did not know how to cook it well. They had no stoves, and they 

could cook only by roasting the food over a 
flame, or by boiling it in water heated by 
stones. 

Workers and fighters. Most of the 
work done among the Indians was per- 
formed by the women. Besides attending 
to their household duties, the squaws tilled 
the fields, made baskets and moccasins, and 
wove the coarse garments that were worn. 
While the women worked, the men spent in 
idleness the time not devoted to hunting and 
fishing, for you must know that the red man was a lazy fellow. He 
would sleep, gamble, or play games while his wife was working like 
a slave. 

The Indian did not like to labor, 
but he liked to fight, and much of 
his time was spent in warfare. 
The different tribes fought among 
themselves, and when the white 
man came, they waged war upon 
him also. Their chief weapons 
were arrows, which they shot from 

long bows, and a kind of battle-ax called the tomahawk. The Indians 
were brave in battle, but they were very cruel. They would not only 
scalp the enemies they killed, but would often torture a captive until 
he died. 




Bow and arrows. 




AMERICA FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO 13 

The number of Indians. When the white man came, there were 
altogether about three hundred Indian tribes in this country. Some 
of these were very small, containing less than a hundred 
members. No tribe was very large, the largest contain- 
ing only a few thousand people. All the tribes put together 
numbered only about 300,000, which is about the population 
of one of our smallest States. So while it is true that the 
white man found Indians wherever he went, it is also true 
that he nowhere found them in great numbers. In some 
parts of the country one could travel for days and weeks 
without seeing a single human being, whether red or white. tomlhTwk. 

1. To what extent was our country a forest in the days before the white man 
came ? 

2. What animals and birds were found in this great forest? 

3. In what part of the country did the Indians live? 

4. Describe the dress of the Indians; describe their dwellings; describe their 
food. 

5. What were the duties of an Indian woman? 

6. Give an account of Indian warfare. 

7. What can you say about the number of Indians who were here when the white 
man first came? 



LESSON III 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

Where is Genoa? Palos? San Salvador? Where are the Canary Islands? 
How could you go from Genoa to China, traveling partly on land and partly on 
v^ater? How could you go from Genoa to China, traveling entirely by water? 
About how far is it from Palos to San Salvador? About how far is it from 
San Salvador to China? What does the word Orient mean? Name some of the 
precious stones. What is a navigator? What is a prior? 

The boyhood of Christopher Columbus. In the year 1492 some 
white men from Spain crossed the Atlantic Ocean and landed on a 
little island in the West Indies. The leader of the 
white men was Christopher Columbus. Although 
Columbus was one of the most remarkable men that 
ever lived, we know very little about his early life. 
It is thought that he was born in Genoa in the year 
1446. We are told that his father was a poor 
wool-comber, who was unable to support his fam- 

Christopher Columbus. . , . . , . , , . 

ily, and that Christopher, m order to earn his own 
living, went to sea and learned how to be a sailor. One writer tells 
us that at the early age of fourteen Christopher had become the mas- 
ter of a ship. Whether this is true or not, it is certain that by the time 
he reached manhood he was a brave and skillful seaman. 

The trade routes closed by the Turks. About the time Colum- 
bus was learning to sail a ship, the merchants of Europe who traded 
with Persia, India, and China were being badly treated by the Turks 
in Asia Minor. For many centuries these merchants had been ac- 

14 




CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



15 



customed to send their goods to the countries of the Orient by land 
routes which led eastward from the Mediterranean Sea across Asia. 
But about the middle of the fifteenth century the Turks began to 
prevent them from using these routes, and by the end of the century 
they were completely closed. 

Columbus decides on a westward voyage. As soon as the land 
routes to the Orient could no longer be used the sailors of Europe 
began to try to find a way to reach these eastern countries by water. 
Columbus was one of those who took part in this search. Most people 
at that time thought that the earth was a great flat body of land con- 
sisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa. They believed that the only 
way to go by water from Europe to India and China was to sail down 
the east coast of Africa and cross the Indian Ocean. But Columbus 
believed that the earth was a globe and that men could travel entirely 
around it, just as a fly can walk around an apple. If that was so, then 
India could be reached by sailing directly 
west across the Atlantic Ocean. So while 
he was yet a young man, he decided that he 
would try to reach India by making this 
westward voyage across the Atlantic. 

Columbus attempts to get ships and 
men. But ships and men and money were 
needed for such a voyage, and to get these 
was no easy task. In 1485 he went as a 
stranger to a Spanish convent of La Ra- 
bida, near Palos, and told the prior who 
he was and what he hoped to do. This 

- - 1 , , . . Columbus and the prior. 

prior was a wise man, and he looked with 

favor upon Columbus and his plans. He tried to have Ferdinand and 

Isabella, the king and queen of Spain, see Columbus and hear his plans. 




i6 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



But they were very busy at this time, and Columbus could not be re- 
ceived at once. Indeed, a very long time passed before he was given 
a hearing. Now for one reason and now for another he was kept 
waiting. These years of waiting tried the patience of Columbus 
sorely, for he was eager to start on his voyage and reach India before 
it was reached by some other navigator. 

Columbus appears before the king and queen of Spain. In 1491 
Columbus was at last allowed to appear before Queen Isabella and 
King Ferdinand and explain his plans. He showed the queen his 
charts, and told her of the riches of India and of the glory that would 
come to Spain if a Spanish ship should be the first to reach the Orient 
by a westward route. Columbus spoke so earnestly that the queen be- 
came deeply interested in the proposed voyage. Isabella referred the 
matter to a council of wise men and asked them for their opinion. 
The council reported that Columbus was crazy, that he was a dreamer, 
that India could not be reached by a westward route, and that the 
voyage across the Atlantic was foolish and ought not to be undertaken. 
Columbus gets the ships and the men and starts on the voyage. 
Columbus was sadly disappointed by the report of the council, but 

he had a stout heart and did not lose 
hope. In 1492 he appeared before the 
king and queen and again explained his 
plans. He was now more earnest than 
ever. As he spoke, he became so elo- 
quent that his tongue seemed touched 
with flame, and the face of Isabella 
seemed to beam like the face of an 
angel. The king's heart, too, was 
thrilled by the words of the sailor. He decided that Columbus ought 
to have the assistance for which he asked. But the king was in need 




He sailed in command of three ships. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



17 



of money at this time, and he was not sure that he could spare enough 
to fit out the ships that would be needed. The good Isabella, how- 
ever, promised the king that, if it was necessary, she would sell her 
jewels in order to get the money for the voyage. So it was agreed 
that Columbus should have the ships and the men and that he should 
be made the Admiral of the Ocean. 

Columbus prepared for the voyage as fast as he could, and it was 
not long before he was ready to start. On the third of August, 
1492, he sailed out of the harbor of Palos in command of three ships 




^^¥3, 



T^YSt yjy^--'-\X_ Columbus 




The first voyage of Columbus. 

and about one hundred and twenty men. His vessels would have 
seemed mere toy boats if they could have been compared with the great 
ships of to-day. His own ship, the Santa Maria, was a little craft 
about sixty feet long and could carry a burden of only about one hun- 
dred tons. 

Columbus sails westward across the Atlantic and discovers land, 
Columbus sailed first to the Canary Islands, which had often been 
visited by European ships before. From the Canaries he steered 
directly west, out on the broad Atlantic, and soon his vessels were 



i8 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

plowing along in waters which had never before been seen by man. 
Day after day passed, and evening after evening the sun set in the 
west, yet no land appeared. The sailors became frightened and wished 
to turn back. They were afraid that, if they went on and on, they 
would at last be destroyed by the monsters of the sea, for in those days 
it was believed that the sea was full of strange looking beasts which 
would sometimes rise out of the water and swallow ships and men. 
But Columbus calmed the fears of his men. He told them there was 
no danger ahead and promised them that, if they would only go for- 
ward, they would soon reach India, where they would see great cities 
and load their vessels with gold and silver and fine silks and precious 
stones. 

After holding a westward course for many days, the sailors were 
at last encouraged by signs of land. Birds began to visit the ships, 
and green plants came floating by. On the eleventh of October a 
carved stick was picked up by the sailors, and they saw floating on 
the water a hawthorn branch upon which were some fresh berries. 
There was now much excitement among the sailors, for they felt sure 
that they would soon reach land. And they were not disappointed, for 
at ten o'clock on the night of the eleventh of October a light was seen 
moving in the distance, and about two o'clock on the morning of the 
twelfth a gun fired from one of the ships announced the joyful news 
that LAND was in sight. 

At sunrise a landing was made on a little island, which was given 
the name of San Salvador. Columbus leaped upon the shore, fell upon 
his knees, and kissed the ground. His eyes filled with tears of joy, 
and his heart gave thanks to God for bringing him and his men safely 
to the land of India, as he believed it to be. He drew his sword, 
lifted up the flag of Spain, and took possession of the island in the 
name of Ferdinand and Isabella. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



19 




He took possession in the name of Ferdinand 
and Isabella. 



Columbus thinks the new found land is India. Inhabitants of 
the island gathered around the newcomers and gazed upon them in 
wonder and awe. The poor crea- 
tures thought that the Spaniards were 
superior beings who had come down 
from the skies. The Spaniards, in 
their turn, looked in wonder upon the 
natives, for they were indeed strange- 
looking beings, by no means the kind 
of people Columbus expected to find 
in India. Yet he gave them the name 
of Indians, because he thought they 
were inhabitants of India. 

Columbus looks for Gold. Columbus learned from the natives 
that toward the south there was an island on which much gold could 
be found. So he soon left San Salvador to search for the gold. He 
sailed along the coast of the island which we now call Cuba and landed 
on the island which we now call Haiti, but he found no gold. After 
searching some time in vain for the precious metal Columbus decided 
to return to Spain. On the fifteenth of March, 1493, after an absence 
of more than seven months, he sailed into the port of Palos. 

Columbus returns to Spain. There was great rejoicing in Spain 
when the news spread that Columbus had returned after a successful 
voyage. Honors were heaped upon the Admiral, and he was treated 
with almost as much respect as if he had been a king. Why were 
the Spaniards so glad? Because they thought that Columbus had 
surely been to India and that, in the long search for a new route to the 
Far East, Spain had at last won the prize. They did not know that 
India was many thousands of miles away from the islands which 
Columbus had discovered, and they did not know — nobody knew — 



20 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

that just beyond these islands there lay a vast continent — a Western 
Hemisphere — a NEW WORLD. 

1. Give an account of the boyhood of Columbus. 

2. In what way did the Turks interfere with the merchants of Europe? 

3. Why did Columbus decide to make a westward voyage to India? 

4. Tell about the efforts which Columbus made to get help for his voyage. 

5. Give an account of his voyage across the Atlantic. 

6. When and where did he make his first landing? 

7. Tell what he did and describe what he saw at San Salvador. 

8. Where did he go after he left San Salvador? 

9. Give an account of his return to Spain. 



LESSON IV 

JOHN CABOT AND AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 

What is the meaning of adventurous? adventurer? Name the largest islands of 
the West Indies. What language is spoken on these islands? What countries of 
Europe are nearest to America? Locate Bristol, England, How far is it from 
Bristol to Newfoundland? What places in the United States are named after 
Columbus? Trace three routes by which a boat could sail from Bristol, England, to 
China, During what years was Henry VH the King of England? 

The men who followed in the wake of Columbus. On his first 
voyage Columbus did not lose a single man. Sailors, therefore, were 
no longer afraid to cross the Atlantic. So the great voyage of 1492 
was followed quickly by others. Columbus himself made three more 
voyages to the newly found lands. Many bold and adventurous 
men from Spain followed in his wake. Among these were Ponce de 
Leon, who discovered Florida (15 13) ; Balboa, who crossed the Isth- 
mus of Panama and discovered the Pacific Ocean; Magellan, who 
not only visited the Western Continent, but made a voyage all the way 
around the world ; Pizarro, who conquered Peru and carried off great 
sums of gold; Cortez, who made himself master of Mexico; and De 
Soto, who explored the southern part of North America and dis- 
covered the Mississippi River. 

The Spaniards in the New World. The countries visited by 
the early Spanish adventurers were claimed as possessions of Spain 
and soon were settled by the people of that country. The Spaniards 
who came to the New World continued, of course, to live as they had- 
lived at home. The towns which they built looked like Spanish tor the 

21 



22 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the customs which they followed were Spanish customs, the laws 
which they obeyed were Spanish laws. So one of the results of the 
voyages of Columbus was to cause many Spaniards to go to the New 
World and live there and build up the Spanish power. Within thirty 
years after the coming of Columbus in 1492, Spain made herself 
the mistress of the West Indies, of Mexico, of Central America, and 
of the greater part of South America. 

England sends sailors to the newly found world. Spain claimed 
all the Western World except Brazil, which was claimed by Portugal, 
But Spain's right to all these great possessions was not agreed to by her 
neighbors. As soon as it became known throughout Europe that 
Spain was finding new islands by sailing westward across the Atlantic, 
other nations began to send out ships to the newly found world. 
Foremost among these nations was England. 

John Cabot makes a voyage. The first sailor to take an English 
ship across the Atlantic was John Cabot. But Cabot was not an Eng- 
lishman. Like Columbus he was an Italian, and like Columbus he 
also was a native of Genoa. Cabot's voyage was made five years 
after the first voyage of Columbus. In 1496 Henry VII, the English 
king, gave Cabot and his three sons the right to sail east, west, and 
north, and to discover islands and countries, and to claim them in the 
name of England. 

Cabot started on his w^estward voyage from the town of Bristol, 
England, in the spring of 1497. I^ the summer of that year he landed 
on a strange coast which he thought was the coast of China. Just 
where he landed is not known, but it is thought that the landing 
place was somewhere between Labrador and Nova Scotia. Cabot 
hoped to find gold, but in this he was disappointed. Indeed he 
found nothing of any value, for it was a barren shore to which he had 
The waters of the region, however, abounded in fish which 



JOHN CABOT AND AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 



23 




John Cabot in London. 



were very large and which, according to the story of Cabot, sometimes 
swam in such great shoals that they would stop a ship. Cabot took 
possession of the coast he had discovered in the name of King Henry 
VII, planted an English flag on the 
shore, and sailed back to Bristol. 
Thus you see that England began to 
claim a part of the New World within a 
very few years after it was discovered. 
Cabot discovers a new continent. 
When Cabot returned to England, he 
was treated with great honor. He 
dressed in fine silks, and, as he passed 
along the streets, the people followed 
him in crowds. They believed that he 
had reached India, and they rejoiced 
because they felt that England was to have a share in the trade of 
the Orient. Of course he had not reached India any more than Co- 
lumbus had reached it. He had, however, discovered a continent 
upon which no white man before him had ever placed his foot, for 
Columbus did not reach the mainland until about a 
year after it was found by Cabot. 

Americus Vespucius makes a voyage to Amer- 
ica. How did the continent which was discovered 
by Columbus and Cabot receive its name ? Why was 
the New World called America? Why was it not 
named after Columbus and called Columbia? Or 
why was it not called Cabotia after Cabot? The 
great continent which Cabot reached in 1497 ^^'^^ which Columbus 
reached in 1498 was named after Americus Vespucius, a native of 
Florence in Italy. In 1501 Vespucius, while in the service of the 




Americus Vespucius. 



24 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

king of Portugal, made a voyage to the coast of what is now Brazil. 
When he saw the strange people and the strange animals and birds 
of the country, he felt that he was on a new and unknown continent. 
He did not think he was in Asia, as Cabot thought when he landed 
upon the coast of North America, or as Columbus thought when he 
landed upon the coast of South America. Vespucius wrote an inter- 
esting letter about this voyage of 1501, and in this letter he called 
the Brazil country a " new world." This is the first time, it seems, 
that it ever occurred to any one that Columbus had really discovered 
a new country. 

The name Americus is given to the newly found world. The 
letter of Vespucius fell into the hands of a German professor, who 
at the time was writing a book on geography. In this book the author 
said that the country described by Vespucius, that is, the Brazil coun- 
try, ought to be named the land of Americus (America) in honor of 
the man who had visited it and had described it so well. And people 
began to call it America. The professor meant that Brazil only should 
be called America, but the name spread northward and southward, 
and soon all parts of the newly found continent came to be known 
as America. Thus the New World was named America after 
Americus Vespucius. So it was an Italian, Columbus, that discovered 
the New World; an Italian, Cabot, that first reached the mainland 
of the New World; and an Italian, Americus, that gave the New 
World its name. 

The story of Leif Ericson. When you are told that Cabot was 
the first white man that landed on the mainland of the Western 
World, you ought also to be told that many people believe that Leif 
Ericson came to the New World hundreds of years before Cabot was 
born. Leif Ericson was a brave sailor of Norway. About the year 
1000 he left Norway and sailed to Iceland. The story is that after 



JOHN CABOT AND AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 



25 



he reached Iceland he steered his ship in a southwesterly direction and 
sailed along the coast of North America as far south as the shores of 
what is now Rhode Island. Here, if we are to believe the story, Leif 
landed and made a settlement which was called Vinland. But we do 
not know where Vinland was, and we are not even sure that Leif 




Leif Ericson's ship. 

ever landed on the shores of Rhode Island. Indeed, we are not sure 
that Leif ever came to America at all. If he really did come, then of 
course the honor of having discovered America belongs to him, for 
his voyage was made nearly five hundred years before the voyage 
of either Columbus or Cabot. 



1. Name some of the Spaniards who went to America soon after it was discovered 
^ by Columbus. 

2. Of what part of the New World did Spain take possession? 

3. Tell the story of the voyage made by John Cabot. 

4. Explain how the New World came to be called America. 

5. What can you say of Leif Ericson? 



LESSON V 

FRANCIS DRAKE 

What is a pirate? Locate Plymouth, England. Trace the route made by a ship 
starting from Plymouth, England, and sailing generally in a westwardly direction 
until it comes back to Plymouth, When was Queen Elizabeth born? When was 
she crowned as queen? How long was she queen? What is a knight? Where is 
Cadiz? What does the word invincible mean? What does the word armada mean? 

Why England was slow to make settlements in America. The 

Spaniards, as you have learned, began to make settlements in the 
New World almost as soon as it was discovered. But more than a 
hundred years passed before a permanent English settlement was 
made in America. Why did not England at once take possession of 
North America? Why did she allow so many years to pass before 
sending settlers there? Because she was afraid of Spain, for you 
must remember that Spain also claimed North America. Now in 
the days of Cabot, England was a small and weak nation, while Spain 
was rich and powerful. England had but few soldiers, and her navy 
was very small, while Spain could muster a large army and could 
send out upon the seas ships much swifter and larger than those of 
the English. So if England in the early years of the sixteenth cen- 
tury had tried to take possession of North America, she would almost 
certainly have been driven away by Spain. 

England builds up a strong navy. But England was to see 
better days. As the years rolled on, the population of England be- 
came larger and her wealth increased. Then, too, her navy began to 

26 



FRANCIS DRAKE 



27 



grow in strength. This was due in part to the voyage of Cabot. 
You remember that Cabot brought back to England a wonderful 
story of the excellent fish that could be caught in the waters of 
the country which he visited. This story of Cabot's excited the 
hopes of English fishermen, and, before many years had passed, 
their boats were making trips to Newfoundland. The vessels that 
went out to these distant fishing-grounds had to be strongly built, 
and the sailors who manned the boats had to be brave and skilful, 
for the waters of that part of the Atlantic are rough and dangerous. 
So the fishing voyages led to the building of better ships and to the 
training of better sailors. And 
they led to the building up of a 
stronger and larger navy. By 
1550 England was beginning to 
have a navy of which she was 
proud. Her ships were big and 
strong, they carried heavy guns, 
and her seamen were as bold 
and hardy as any that could be 
found upon the ocean. One of 
her ships, the Great Harry, was manned by seven hundred men. It 
could carry a burden of a thousand tons, and was the wonder of the 
world. With such ships as this why should England any longer be 
afraid of Spain? 

' England and Spain quarrel about the trade of the West Indies. 
The time soon came when England had use for big ships and trained 
seamen. In the second half of the sixteenth century Spain and Eng- 
land began to quarrel with each other, and the quarrel ended in war. 
One of the causes of the trouble between Spain and England was the 
trade of the West Indies. These islands belonged to Spain and she 




The Great Harry. 



28 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



wanted all the profits of that trade for herself. At last Philip II, the 
king of Spain, forbade English sea-captains to trade in the West In- 
dies and threatened to hang them as pirates if they were caught doing 
so. This made the English sea-captains very angry. They said that 
if they were to be treated as pirates, they would act as pirates. So 
they boldly defied the king of Spain. They not only dared to trade in 
the West Indies, but they went there with their fighting ships and 
plundered towns and robbed vessels and carried away all the treasure 
they could lay hands on. 

Sir Francis Drake. The man who gave the Spaniards the most 
trouble was Francis Drake. This sea-king was born in Devonshire, 
England, about the year 1540. Drake's whole life 
was spent upon the water. His hours of play 
were spent upon a river that ran by his father's 
door. At the age of nine he began to serve as a 
sailor boy. In his early teens he was the mas- 
ter of a vessel. At the age of twenty-eight he 
was the commander of a fleet and was famous the 
world over as a seaman. Drake was not very tall, 
but his body was well-knit and powerful. His 
face, like his body, was short and square. His 
eyes were gray and were as clear and as sharp as 
an eagle's. His mouth and chin were firmly set, 
and well they might be, for his will was as strong and as hard as iron. 
Drake attacks the Spaniards. Drake fought the Spaniards 
wherever he could find them, whether in the old world or in the 
new, but it was in the new world that he gave them the heaviest blows. 
In the West Indies and along the coast of South America he sacked 
so many towns and sank so many ships that he was called by the Span- 
iards the Dragon and was feared by them as if he were Satan himself. 




Sir Francis Drake. 



FRANCIS DRAKE 29 

Once, in 1573, he went to the Isthmus of Panama and fell upon a band 
of Spaniards who were crossing the Isthmus with large quantities of 
gold and silver which they had brought up from Peru. As the mules 
were moving along with the treasure upon their backs, they were sud- 
denly seized by Drake and his companions and the gold and jewels and 
silver bars were carried off. 

Drake makes a voyage around the world. While Drake was on 
the Isthmus waiting for the mule train to come along, he climbed 
to the top of a tall tree and in the distance saw the golden water 
of the Pacific Ocean. As he gazed upon the great sea, a longing came 
over him to sail upon it. So, before he came down from his lofty 
place in the tree, he made a vow that some day he would venture 
upon the Pacific. 

And he fulfilled his vow. In September, 1577, he started from 
Plymouth, England, upon a voyage that did not end until he had sailed 
entirely around the globe. He passed through the strait of Magellan 
and swept up the western coast of South America, capturing towns 
as he went and robbing the Spaniards of vast sums of gold and silver. 

When California was reached, Drake went ashore. He was met 
by some Indians, who treated him kindly and 
crowned him as their king. He gave the coun- 
try the name of New Albion and took posses- 
sion of it in the name of Elizabeth, the queen of 
England. 

From California Drake sped westward across 
the broad Pacific. He passed the Cape of Good 
Hope and turned the prow of his good ship, the 
Pelican, toward England. In September, 1580, Q^een Elizabeth. 

he sailed into Plymouth harbor. Everybody at Plymouth was sur- 
prised when the Pelican appeared, for she had long been given up for 




30 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




lost. Drake was now a greater hero than ever, for he had done what 
no Englishman had ever done before — he had made a voyage around 
the world. In honor of the voyage and of Drake a feast was held 
on board the Pelican. Queen Elizabeth attended and made Drake a 

knight; plain Francis Drake became 
Sir Francis Drake. In the hold of 
the Pelican were the riches — the 
gold and silver and precious stones — 
which Drake had taken from the 
Spaniards. One of the jewels taken 
as plunder was given to Elizabeth, 

She made Drake a knight. ^yho plaCcd it iu hcr CrOWU. 

Drake " Singes the beard " of the Spanish king at Cadiz. The 
queen was delighted by what Drake had done, but the Spaniards 
were greatly displeased. Indeed, Elizabeth was plainly told that 
the conduct of Drake would lead to war between England and Spain. 
This proved to be true, for in the end Philip II fitted out a fleet to send 
against England. In the harbor of Cadiz he had a hundred ships 
ready to sail. When Drake heard of what the king was doing he 
was quick to act. With a fleet of twenty ships he hurried to Cadiz, 
entered the harbor, captured or destroyed every vessel of the Spanish 
fleet, and sailed away without the loss of a man or a boat. He did 
not do this, he said, as an act of war; he did it simply to " singe the 
king's beard." 

Drake defeats the Invincible Armada. But Drake had more to 
do than to singe the king's beard, for Philip quickly fitted out another 
and a greater fleet. This time he had 130 ships and 30,000 men. 
He called his mighty fleet the Invincible Armada. In 1588 he sent 
the Armada against England with the purpose of crushing the Eng- 
lish navy and bringing the English people to their knees. But Eng- 



FRANCIS DRAKE 



31 



land was ready for the fight. Her navy met the Armada in the 
EngUsh Channel. Drake in his ship Revenge led the attack. The 
Spaniards had three times as many ships as the English, but the 
English vessels were twice as swift as those of the Spaniards, and 




j.^' 










The Invincible Armada. 

their guns could fire twice as fast. The fighting was furious and 
the struggle lasted three days. In the end Drake and his companions 
won. Many of the Spanish ships were destroyed, and many that es- 
caped from the battle were lost in a terrible storm. Thus Drake and 
his brave companions destroyed Spain's power on the sea. 



1. Why was England slow in making settlements in America? 

2. What led to the building up of a strong English navy? 

3. Why did England and Spain quarrel ? 

4. Give a sketch of the early life of Francis Drake. Describe him. 

5. Tell about Drake's attacks upon the Spanish. 

6. Describe his voyage around the world. 

7. How was Drake received when he returned to England? 

8. When and where and in what way did Drake singe the King's beard? 

9. Tell about the defeat of the Invincible Armada. 



LESSON VI 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



What is a colony? What are colonists? What does the word colonial mean? 
What does the word colonization mean? When speaking of colonists, what is meant 
by the Mother Country? Name some of the things that colonists must take with 
them when they are going to a wild, uncivilized country ? What are the first things 
that colonists must do when they make a settlement? What are some of the hard- 
ships of colonial life? What kind of a place would you choose for planting a 
colony? With a map before you, point out some places on the east coast of 
North America that were suitable for planting colonies. Locate Roanoke Island. 

Sir Walter Raleigh. After the defeat of the Armada England 
began in earnest the work of planting colonies in the wilds of America. 

Indeed, she began the work even before the 
Armada went down in defeat. The leader in 
English colonization was Sir Walter Raleigh. 
This famous hero of English history was 
born about 1552 in Devonshire, the same 
county in which Drake was born. He was a 
cousin of Drake, and when as a boy he drank 
in the tales of his kinsman's brave deeds and 
wonderful adventures, he too longed to go to 
sea and fight the Spaniards and capture ships 
laden with silver and gold. But he did not 
go to sea, for at the age of fourteen he was 
Here he learned to love books almost as 
When he was seventeen, he left Oxford 
32 




Sir Walter Raleigh. 

sent to college at Oxford, 
much as he loved the sea. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



33 



*t *5'g2'-'i'-f-» 




The queen trod gently over, clean and dry. 



and went to France, where he spent several years as a soldier. At 
thirty he was back in England, doing service in the court of Elizabeth 
and standing high in favor of the queen. 

Raleigh was six feet in height and as handsome a man as there 
was in all England. His clothes were the finest that money could 
buy. His cloak of white satin was 
embroidered with pearls, and even his 
shoes were adorned with costly gems. 
He was bright and witty and very po- 
lite. Once Elizabeth, when taking a 
walk, stopped at a muddy place in the 
road, fearing to go further lest she 
should wet her dainty feet. Raleigh, 
who was standing near by, sprang for- 
ward and spread upon the ground his 
new cloak of plush and ermine, " whereon the queen trod gently over, 
clean and dry." No wonder such a gallant gentleman stood high in 
the favor of the queen. 

Raleigh's first attempt to plant a colony in America. While 
Raleigh was still a young man, his mind turned toward America. He 
believed that a nezv England should arise in North America to match 
the new Spain that was rising in South America. So he asked 
Elizabeth to give to his half-brother. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the right 
to go to America and make settlements. The queen granted the re- 
quest, for she was always glad to do what she could to help Raleigh 
in his plans. Eleven ships were fitted out to carry the settlers across 
the ocean, and Raleigh himself was the captain of one of them. The 
fleet started on the voyage, but it did not go far before it was attacked 
by the Spaniards and driven back. So the first expedition ended in 
failure. "^ 



34 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Raleigh makes a second attempt. In 1583 another attempt was 
made. This time Gilbert had a fleet of five ships. Raleigh owned 
one of the vessels, and he wanted to sail with Gilbert. But the 
queen would not let her favorite go, for she was afraid ill-fortune 
might overtake him. So the fleet sailed without Raleigh. Four 
vessels reached Newfoundland in safety. Gilbert went ashore and 
took possession of the island in the name of the queen. Thus Eng- 
land at last actually held the land upon which Cabot had raised her 
flag more than four score years before. 

Things did not go smoothly in the Newfoundland settlement. 
The sailors quarreled with each other, fever broke out among them, 
one of the ships was wrecked, and the men begged to be taken home. 
So Gilbert decided to go back to England. But he never saw his 
native land again, for his ship was caught in a gale and disappeared 
beneath the waves. Gilbert and all his men were drowned. As the 
ship was sinking, Gilbert called cheerily to his men, saying : " Be 
of good heart, my friends ; we are as near Heaven by sea as by land ! " 

Thus the second expedition ended in 
failure more disastrous than the 
first. 

Raleigh sends Amidas and Bar- 
low to explore the American 
coast. Raleigh was grieved and 
disappointed, but he did not lose 
heart. He resolved to carry for- 
ward the work begun by his half- 
brother. In 1584 he sent out two captains, Philip Amidas and Arthur 
Barlow, to explore the southern part of the American coast. These 
two men were not to make settlements, but were simply to visit the 
country and bring back an account of what they saw. They landed 



(Qf^^ r- 




The house in which Raleigh was born. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 35 

on the coast of what is now North Carolina and were charmed with 
the dehghtful cHmate and the beautiful country. It seemed to them 
to be a garden of sweet-smelling flowers and delicious fruits. The 
Indians seemed gentle, loving, and faithful. " Surely," they said, 
'' this is the best soil under heaven ! " 

Amidas and Barlow returned to England and told Raleigh what 
they had found. Raleigh carried the news to the queen. Elizabeth 
was greatly pleased and called the country Virginia, a name that for 
a long time was applied to all that part of the American coast which 
lies north of Florida. Elizabeth encouraged Raleigh to make a 
settlement there and promised to help him in e\'ery way she could. 
She would not, however, let him go out to America in person. She 
was having a great deal of trouble with Sp?in at the time, and she 
needed him at home. 

Raleigh sends a colony to Roanoke Island. Raleigh could not 
go to Virginia himself, but he hastened to send others. In 1585 
he sent out about one hundred men to make a settlement in the 
" earthly paradise " which had been visited by Amidas and Barlow. 
A place was chosen on Roanoke Island. The governor of this colony 
was Ralph Lane. 

If Raleigh had been present to direct affairs, all might have been 
well, but under Lane's management things did net prosper. The set- 
tlers quarreled among themselves and they quarreled with the Indians. 
More than this, their supply of food gave out. They expected mere 
from England, but none came. One day, when their provisions were 
nearly all gone and they w^ere facing starvation, a fleet commanded 
by Drake suddenly appeared in the harbor. The colonists by this 
time were thoroughly disheartened. They begged Drake to take them 
home, for he was en his way to England. He granted their request, 
and turning their backs on Roanoke Island, they sailed away. Thus 



36 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Lane's colony was broken up, and for the third time Raleigh, who 
had looked forward to planting a successful colony on the American 
coast, was disappointed. 

Most men would have lost hope and given up in despair, but 
Raleigh resolved to try again. In 1587 — the year before the Armada 
— he sent out another colony, consisting of one hundred and fifty 
persons, seventeen of whom were women. The governor of this 

colony was John White. Roanoke was 
again chosen as the place for settlement. 
When White landed upon the island, he 
found the houses built by Lane's settlers 
still standing. In one of them a deer 
was making its home. The buildings 
were repaired, and the work of clearing 
the ground and planting grain was begun. 
But before the crops were ready to be 
harvested, the food began to run low. So 
White returned to England to get a fresh 
supply. He left behind him a daughter, 
Eleanor Dare, and a new-born grand- 
deer was making child, Virginia Darc, the first child born 

its home. ' ^ ' 

of English parents on American soil. 
Raleigh's colony at Roanoke is lost. When White reached 
England, he found his country straining every nerve to defend itself 
against the terrible Armada. Raleigh was of course very busy with 
public affairs, but he found time to lend a helping hand to his colony. 
He gave White two ships laden with food, and with these White 
started back to Roanoke. On the way he fell in with pirates and 
was forced to return to England. So the colonists at Roanoke were 
left to take care of themselves. 




.^^/ 



In one of the hoi 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 37 

Four years passed before White was able to return to his colony. 
At last the ship on which he sailed anchored off Roanoke. A trum- 
pet was sounded, and familiar English tunes were played. But only 
the great trees of the forest heard the music. No human voice 
made answer. Not a soul was on the island. The colony was lost. 
Raleigh sent ships again and again, trying to find the missing settlers, 
but no trace of them was ever discovered. 

After the second failure at Roanoke Raleigh sent out no more 
colonists. He would gladly have done so, but he did not have money 
to fit out the ships. The expeditions had already cost him nearly 
a million dollars, and he could spend no more. But he did not lose 
his faith in the plan. He still believed that England ought to plant 
colonies in America, and that some day this would be done. " I 
shall yet live," he said, " to see an English nation in America." In 
the next lesson you will learn that he did live to see his hope fulfilled. 

1. Give a sketch of the early life of Sir Walter Raleigh. Describe him. 

2. Give an account of Raleigh's first attempt to plant a colony in America. 

3. Tell the story of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. 

4. What report did Amidas and Barlow make of their visit to America? 

5. Give an account of Ralph Lane's colony. 

6. Tell the story of John White's colony. 

7. Why did Raleigh plant no more colonies? 



LESSON VII 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

What is a shire? Locate Lincohishire, England. What is the value of a shilling 
in United States money? Who is the sultan? Where is Chesapeake Bay? Locate 
Jamestown. During what years was James I king of England? What is an idol? 
What is a representative? 

The early life of Captain John Smith. When Raleigh said he 
would Hve to see an English nation in America, he foretold truly 
what came to pass, for, eleven years before he died, there was planted 
on the American coast a colony that lived and flourished. This 
colony was Jamestown, which was founded in 
1607. The man to whom the colony at James- 
town owes most was John Smith. This hero 
was born in Lincolnshire, England, in the year 
1580. At the age of thirteen he decided to run 
away from home. He sold his satchel, his books, 
and all his belongings in order to get some money 
to take with him. When he was on the point of 
setting out for London, his father suddenly died. 
So the boy did not run away, but remained in 
Lincolnshire and lived under the care of a guardian. For a while 
he served as a clerk in a store. But such a life was too dull for thi 
restless lad. He wanted to see the great world, and he made up his 
mind that he would see it. He went to his guardian and told him 
that he would be a clerk no longer. Then, with ten shillings in his 
pocket, he started off to see the^ world. 

38 




Captain John Smith. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



39 



Smith's Adventures. Smith wrote an account of his travels and 
adventures, and, if we can beheve what he says, his Hfe must have 
been full of wonderful incidents. Once, while at sea, he was thrown 
overboard by the sailors, because they thought he was a second Jonah, 
who was bringing ill-luck to their vessel. But he swam to a desert 
island and was rescued by some pirates. At another time he fought 
against the Turks and with his own hand killed three of their best 
fighters. Later he was captured by the Turks, sold as a slave, and sent 
to the daughter of the sultan as a present. The young woman fell in 
love with him and treated him very kindly. But he thought only of 
his freedom and of how he could make his escape. Once, when he 
was threshing wheat, he was struck by the overseer who had charge 
of the slaves. Smith turned upon the overseer and killed him with 
the flail which he had in his hand. He then filled a sack with 
wheat, mounted the overseer's horse, and galloped away. After long 
wanderings through Europe 
he reached England about 
the year 1605. 

The beginnings of 
Jamestown. Just at this 
time some merchants in Lon- 
don were preparing to send 
out another colony to Vir- 
ginia. Smith heard of their 
plans and eagerly joined with 
them in their undertaking. 
He felt that America was 
exactly the right place for 
him, for he loved excitement 
and adventure. 




Jamestown and vicinity. 



40 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



In December, 1606, the three ships that were to take the new colony 
to Virginia sailed from England. On board were about 120 per- 
sons, Smith being one of the number. In May, 1607, the colonists 
landed on an island a few miles from the mouth of a river which 
flows into Chesapeake Bay. Here the settlers began their work. 
They quickly built a fort to protect themselves against the Indians, 
for out in the forest they could see " savages creeping on all fours, 
like bears, with bows in their mouths." While some were working 
on the fort, others were cutting down trees, making the woods ring 
with the sound of their axes; some were building rude cabins for 
dwellings, and others were breaking the ground with hoes and spades 
and planting the seeds for future crops. In a short time the fort 
was built and the foundation of the colony was laid. The settlement 
was called Jamestown in honor of James I, who was now the king 
of England. 

Smith saves the colonists from starvation. For two or three 
months things at Jamestown went along smoothly, and the people 

were contented and happy. 
But in August the food sup- 
ply gave out, and there came 
a time of ' great distress.* 
The colonists, it is true, had 
planted some corn, but they 
had to wait till it grew and 
was fit to eat. At one time 
it seemed that they would all 
die of starvation. But Smith 
was determined that the 
colonists should not starve. 
He knew that the Indians had corn, and he said he would get some of 



Wilt 



*'*i»''!SPv'' ' 









« 




,kC 



i>xOTSL.-r- -^ ,; i^ -jL-_^.^ 



Smith trading with the Indians. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 41 

it. He would buy the corn if he could; but if he could not buy it, he 
would take it from them by force. 

So he went among the Indians with a small company of men and 
tried to buy the corn. But they would not sell. Then Smith tried 
force. He ordered the men to fire their muskets. This they did, 
and at the same time charged upon the Indians and drove them pell- 
mell out of their village. Smith then captured the " Okee "of the 
Indians. This was the idol which the savages worshiped as their 
god. It was made of skins stuffed with moss. Smith told the In- 
dians that he would give them back their Okee, and would also 
give them some beads and hatchets as presents if they would fill one 
of his boats with corn. This they agreed to do. They brought not 
only the corn, but also some venison and wild fowl. As they came 
down to the boat, they sang and danced as if in friendship. Thus 
by the bold action of Smith the colonists were saved from starvation. 

The story of Smith and Pocahontas. A few months after this, 
Smith went among the Indians again, but this time he met with bad 
luck. While he was exploring the Chickahominy River, he was at- 
tacked by the Indians, two of his men were killed, and he himself 
was captured. For six weeks the savages kept him as their prisoner. 
Then they took him before Powhatan, their king. Here he passed 
through a terrible experience. We will let Smith tell in his own 
words what happened : 

" At my entrance before the king all the people gave a great shout. 
The queen brought me water to wash my hands. Another brought 
me a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry them. Having 
feasted me in the best barbarous manner they could, a long consulta- 
tion was held, but the conclusion was that two great stones were 
brought before Powhatan. Then as many as could laid hands on me, 
dragged me to the stones, and thereon laid my head. When they 



42 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




were ready with their ckibs to beat out my brains, Pocahontas, the 
king's dearest daughter, when she found she could not save me by 

praying for my life, got my 



head in her arms and laid her 
own upon me to save me from 
death. Whereat Powhatan was 
content that I should live." 

This story has been doubted, 
but, whether it is true or not, 
it is certain that Smith escaped. 
It is also certain that Pocahon- 



Pocahontas saves the life of Captain John Smith. 

tas became a true friend of the colonists. Many a time did the young 
princess bring food to Jamestown, and often, when the Indians were 
plotting against the settlers, did she warn them of their danger. 

Smith is made president of the colony. Later Smith w^as made 
the president of the colony. And a better ruler could not have been 
found. Many of the settlers were lazy and did not like to work. 
Smith knew that a new country w-as no place for idlers. So he made 
a rule that any man who refused to work should have nothing to eat 
and should be set adrift in the forest, where he would be at the mercy 
of the wild beasts and the Indians. This rule had a good effect. 
The idlers now began to chop wood, and dig in the ground, and 
help in the building of houses. 

Besides teaching the colonists to work, Smith did much to keep 
the peace with the Indians. He went among them, traded with 
them, and made them his friends. Smith remained at Jamestown 
until 1609, when he met with an accident and was compelled to return 
to England for treatment. He afterwards visited the coast of New 
England, but he never returned to Jamestown. 

The colonists prepare to leave Jamestown. The colonists were 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



43 



sorry when Smith left, and they missed him very much. In less 
than six months after he went away the people of Jamestown were 
starving, but there was no one who could go among the Indians and 
get the food that was so much needed. The distress was so great 
that the colonists decided, in 1610, to return to England. They all 
embarked in a small boat, said farewell to Jamestown, and started 
down the river on the homeward voyage. But as they were about 
to sail out upon the bay, they met three ships coming from England, 
bringing food enough to last the colony for a year. When the set- 
tlers saw that they were no longer in danger of starving, they gave 
up the plan of returning to England and went back to their deserted 
homes in Jamestown. They never again thought of leaving Virginia. 

The cultivation of tobacco. Soon after Smith left Jamestown 
the colonists began to raise tobacco. John Rolfe shipped a cargo of 
tobacco to England and sold it there at a good 
price. This same John Rolfe married the Indian 
princess, Pocahontas, and took her to England as 
his bride. After Rolfe had proved that money 
could be made by raising tobacco, every man who 
had a piece of land began to plant this new crop, and 
it was not long before tobacco was to be seen grow- 
ing even in the streets of Jamestown. 

Slavery in Virginia. The raising of so much 
tobacco required many laborers, and there were not 
enough white men to do the work. The Virginians 
would gladly have hired the Indians to help them, but the red men, as 
we have seen, were not fond of work. 

In 1619 there came to Jamestown a Dutch ship which had on board 
twenty negroes who had been captured in Africa. They were bought 
l^y the planters and set to work in the tobacco-fields. They proved 




The tobacco plant. 



44 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



to be the kind of laborers that were wanted. So more negroes were 
brought to Virginia, and, before many years had passed, slavery 
was firmly established in the colony. 

The first law-making body. In the same year in which the first 
negroes were brought to Jamestown the people of Virginia elected 
representatives to make laws for the colony. In July, 1619, these 
representatives met in the little wooden church at Jamestown. This 
was the first law-making body that ever met in the New World. 








The negroes were bought by the planters. 

By this time the Jamestown colony was fairly on its feet, and it 
was growing in population and in wealth. Smith could well be 
proud of the colony for which he had labored so hard, for Jamestown 
was the first permanent English settlement in America. It was the 
beginning of the great State of Virginia, and it was the beginning of 
the United States. 



1. Give an account of the early life and of the adventures of John Smith. 

2. Tell the story of the founding of Jamestown. 

3. How did Smith save the colonists from starvation? 

4. Tell the story of Smith and Pocahontas, 

5. What were some of the things done by Smith while he was president of the 
colony? 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 45 

6. Why did the colonists prepare to return to England? Why did they turn 
back? 

7. Tell about the culture of tobacco in Jamestown. 

8. When and why was slavery established in Virginia? 

9. When and where did the first law-making body in America meet? 



LESSON VIII 

SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. HENRY HUDSON 

Describe the St. Lawrence River. Wliere is Quebec? Where is Lake Champlain? 
Where is the Richelieu (or Sorel) River? What does the word demoraHzed 
mean? Where is New York Bay? Describe the Hudson River. Where is Albany? 
Where is Manhattan Island? Bound Holland. What is the capital of Holland? 
What is the difference between a Dutchman and a German? Define the word magic. 
Name some of the best of the fur-bearing animals. 

Early attempts of the French to make settlements. There were 
now two settlements of white men on the coast of North America; 
the English settlement at Jamestown, and a little Spanish settlement, 
called St. Augustine,^ on the coast of Florida. But England and 
Spain were not the only nations that wished to plant colonies in the 
New World. France felt that she had as gocd a right to do this 
as Spain or England had, and she soon began to send out colonists to 
the American coast. 

In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence and took 
possession of the country along the banks of the beautiful river in 
the name of the king of France. Six years later a company of French 
noblemen, soldiers, and laborers tried to make a settlement on the 
banks of the St. Lawrence, but most of them fell sick and died, and 
the colony was broken up. In 1564 some Frenchmen, under the lead- 
ership of Jean Ribault, made a settlement in Florida at the mouth 
of the St. John's River, but they were attacked l\v the Spaniards 

1 St. Augustine was founded in 1565. It is the oldest town in the United States. 

46 




SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. HENRY HUDSON 47 

and all were killed. After this it was a long time before the French 
sent out another colony. 

Samuel Champlain. The first permanent French settlement in 
America was made by Samuel Champlain. Of the many bold and 
brave men who left Europe to seek their for- 
tunes in America, Champlain was one of the 
bravest and boldest. He was born in 1567 
in a little town on the coast of France. His 
father was a sea-captain. In his boyhood, 
Samuel learned how to sail a ship, and by the 
time he was grown, he was an excellent sea- / 
man. — 

Champlain makes a settlement at Que- samuei champiain. 

bee. Like so many other young men of his time, like Drake and Ra- 
leigh and Smith, Champlain looked to America as the place where 
glory could be won and a fortune made. His great work in Amer- 
ica began in Canada at about the time that Captain John Smith 
and his men were building the first homes in Jamestown. In July, 
1608, Champlain, with two ships and one hundred and twenty men, 
sailed up the broad St. Lawrence and landed where the city of 
Quebec now stands. Some of the men began at once to cut down 
trees; others sawed beams and planks; others dug a cellar. Soon a 
house was erected, and a French flag was waving over the building. 
This was the beginning of a settlement, which was called Quebec. 

It was not long before the new settlers were attacked by disease, 
and they suffered almost as much as the people of Jamestown. At 
one time it seemed that all would die and that Quebec would perish 
as had the other French colonies. But Quebec did not perish; some 
of the settlers lived. They increased in numbers, and in the course 
of time the struggling little settlement grew to be an important city. 



48 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Thus a permanent French colony was at last established in the wilds 
of America. 

Champlain defeats the Iroquois Indians. Champlain wished 
France to have as much land in the New World as possible, so he ex- 
plored the country around Quebec. Wherever he went, he raised 
the French flag. With a few white companions and some Huron 
Indians, he went by canoe up the Richelieu (Sorel) River until he 
came to the peaceful waters of a large lake. The beautiful body of 




" I aimed straight at one of their chiefs. 



water delighted Champlain, and he was proud to have it called Lake 
Champlain. One evening, while paddling along the western shore 
of the lake, Champlain and his companions were startled by a sudden 
war-whoop! It was the yell of the Iroquois Ihdians. Champlain 
knew that the Hurons and the Iroquois were bitter enemies, and when 
he heard the war-whoop, he prepared for trouble. Soon the two 
bands of savages were rushing toward each other. We wiH let 
Champlain himself tell what happened: 



SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. HENRY HUDSON 49 

" Our men opened into two ranks and put me at the head, about 
twenty paces in advance. When I was about thirty paces from the 
enemy, the latter suddenly perceived me. They halted and stared. 
I put my arquebus [musket] to my cheek and aimed straight at one 
of their chiefs. At the shot, two fell dead. I had put four balls 
into my gun. The Iroquois were dumbfounded that two of their 
number should have been killed so promptly. As I was re-loading, 
one of my companions fired a shot from the woods. This so demoral- 
ized them that they lost their heads completely and took to their heels." 

Champlain and his Huron Indians won the battle ag'ainst the 
Iroquois, but it was a victory that cost the French dearly; for after 
that battle on the shore of Lake Champlain, the Iroquois became 
their lasting and bitter enemies, doing them all the harm they could. 
They prevented the French from coming down and taking possession 
of what is now the State of New York. By doing this, they kept the 
French from extending their power in a southerly direction. If 
Champlain had not fired his gun, a large portion of what is now the 
State of New York might have been taken by the French and made 
a part of Canada. 

Champlain explores the country around the Great Lakes. But 
although the French lost this valuable prize, they nevertheless rapidly 
gained for themselves a vast amount of territory. Champlain pushed 
out into the mighty forests in every direction. He made his way 
westward as far as the Great Lakes, and, before many more years 
passed, the French flag was waving in the far-off wilds of Michigan 
and Wisconsin. Truly, Champlain could feel before he died (in 1635) 
that the dream of his youth had been fulfilled: that a New France had 
risen in America. 

Three nations of Europe had now established themselves in Amer- 
ica : Spain at St. Augustine ; England at Jamestown ; and France at 




50 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Quebec. About the time the settlements at Jamestown and Quebec 
were fairly under way, a fourth nation came forward and began to 
send out colonists to America. That nation was Holland. 

Holland sends colonists to America ; Henry Hudson. The first 
Dutchmen — as the people of Holland are called — who came to 
America were led by Henry Hudson. This 
famous sailor was an Englishman by birth, but 
he gave his services to the Dutch. In 1609 
Hudson entered New York Bay in his good ship 
the Half Moon and sailed up the river that bears 
his name. 

Manhattan Island in the days of Hudson. 
To-day, as you sail from New York Bay into 
Henry Hudson. ^^^ Hudsou Rivcr, you scc a wildcrncss of ships 

and great buildings, but how unlike the New York of our times 
was the scene which greeted the eyes of Hudson and his men ! 
" The Island of Manhattan," says Irving, " spread before them like 
some sweet vision of fancy or some fair creature of magic. Its 
hills of smiling green swelled gently one above another crowned 
with lofty trees, some pointing their tapering foliage toward the 
clouds, others bowing their branches to the earth, which was covered 
with flowers. On the hills were the dogwood, the sumach, and the 
wild briar whose scarlet berries and white blossoms glowed brightly 
among the deep green of the surrounding foliage. As they stood 
gazing upon the scene before them, a red man, crowned with feath- 
ers, issued from one of the glens, sounded the war-whoop, and 
bounded back into the woods like a wild deer." 

Hudson explores the Hudson River. Hudson did not tarry long 
at the lovely island of Manhattan. He had been sent out from 
Holland to search for a short route to China. He had been told 



SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. HENRY HUDSON 



51 



by Captain John Smith that the Hudson River would lead him 
to the Pacific Ocean if he would but follow the stream far enough, 
and that, after reaching the Pacific, he could, of course, sail straight 
a-cross to China. In high hopes of finding China, Hudson went 
up the river to a point a little above where the city of Albany now 
stands. Here the Half Moon ran ashore and stuck fast in the mud. 
Hudson was now convinced that, if he was ever to reach China, he 
must turn back and take a fresh start. So when he got his ship 
off the mud-bank, he turned her around and sailed back to Holland, 
taking with him a good load of furs which he had bought from the 
Indians. 

The Dutch trade with the Indians ; the settlement at New Am- 
sterdam. Although Hudson had failed to find China, he had found 




The Dutch buying Manhattan Island. 

a country where furs could be bought cheap ; and that was a most 
important discovery, for furs were used in olden times a great deal 
more than they are now. Three hundred years ago the floors of 
houses were covered with furs and bed-coverings and garments were 
made of them. The merchants who sent Hudson out were glad to 
learn that he had found a country rich in furs, and it was not long 



52 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



before the Dutch were on the Hudson trading with the Indians, 
giving them rum and trinkets and hatchets for the skins of otter and 
beaver. 

In 1 614 the Dutch began to make settlements on Manhattan Island. 
T\xelve years later the Indians sold the island to Peter Minuit, who 
bought it for a Dutch trading-company. The price agreed upon for the 
island was about one hundred dollars. This was not paid in money, 
however, but in clothing and ribbons and beads. Soon after the 
island was bought, a Dutch settlement was made on it and called New 
Amsterdam. Thus the voyage of Hudson brought people from Hol- 
land to live on the American coast. This settlement of the Dutch grew 
larger and larger and at last became the greatest city in the New World, 
for New Amsterdam was the old name for the City of New York. 




New Amsterdam. 



1. Give an account of the first attempts of the Dutch to make settlements in 
America. 

2. Sketch the early life of Samuel Champlain. 

3. Tell the story of Champlain and Quebec. 

4. Tell the story of Champlain and the Iroquois Indians. 

5. What regions were explored by Champlain? 

6. What four nations sent colonists to America? 

7. Who was Henry Hudson? 

8. Descril^e Manhattan Island as it looked in the days of Hudson. 

9. Tell about Hudson's trip up the Hudson River. 

10. Why were the Dutch glad to trade with the Indians for furs? 

11. Give the early history of New Amsterdam. 



LESSON IX 

PLYMOUTH : WILLIAM BREWSTER AND WILLIAM BRADFORD 

What States border on the Atlantic between Cape Cod and the Delaware River? 
By what name is the Church of England known in the United States? What is a 
pilgrim? Trace on a map of the world a journey extending from Scrooby, Eng- 
land, to Leyden, Holland, to Southampton, England, to Provincetown, Massachu- 
setts, to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Define pious, conscientious, conscience. 

Plymouth. The Dutch claimed all the Atlantic coast from Cape 
Cod to the Delaware River, but England also claimed this part of the 
coast and she was not willing that another nation should have it. 
Even before the fort at New Amsterdam was finished, colonists from 
England were taking possessioxi of some of the land claimed by the 
Dutch. These colonists were the Pilgrims, who in 1620 began a set- 
tlement called Plymouth on the spot where the town of Plymouth, 
Massachusetts, now stands. 

William Brewster and William Bradford. The leaders of the 
Plymouth settlers were William Brewster and William Bradford. 
These two leaders were not bold, dashing heroes, like Drake and 
John Smith, but they had clear minds and brave hearts, and they did 
not shrink from a task because it was hard. They led pious lives 
and thought' that religion was the most important thing in the world. 

About the time Brewster was growing into manhood, many people 
in England were becoming dissatisfied with the Church of England 
(the church to which all the Protestants in that country belonged), 
because it did not allow them as much freedom in religious matters 
as they wished. They wanted the privilege of choosing their own 

53 



54 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



pastor, and they wished to sing, and pray, and preach in their own 
way. But they were not permitted to do this. They were compelled 
to worship according to the rules laid down for them by the Church. 
Brewster and Bradford were among those who wanted to worship 
God in their own way, and they joined with those who were growing 
tired of the Church of England. 

The church at Scrooby. About 1605 some church-members at 
Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, broke away and formed a congregation 

of their own; and among them 
were Brewster and Bradford. 
But the members of the Scrooby 
church soon found that they 
would not be allowed to have 
their own services and worship 
as they pleased. Some of them 
\vere sent to prison, and others 
had their houses watched day 
and night by officers of the law. 
Such treatment caused them to feel that they must leave England and 
go to a country where the people could worship God in whatever man- 
ner they wished. They had heard that Holland was such a country, 
so they resolved to go there. 

The Pilgrims in Holland. The members of the Scrooby church 
left England in 1607, and, after passing through many hardships and 
moving from place to place, settled at last in Leyden, Holland, in 1609, 
just about the time Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in the 
Half Moon. The Pilgrims, as the roving folk from Scrooby were 
called, built a church and some houses in Leyden and prepared to 
make the city their permanent home. Brewster found employment 
as a teacher, while Bradford worked as a silk weaver. 




Scrooby. 



PLYMOUTH: WILLIAM BREWSTER. WILLIAM BRADFORD 55 

In Leyden the Pilgrims could worship as they wished, and for a 
while they liked their new surroundings. But as the years passed, 
they found that life in a strange land was not pleasant. After they 
had been in Holland about ten years, they began to grow restless and 
to long for their old home in England. But the King of England 
would not let them return. Where, then, could they find a place to 
live? To what country could they go? Their thoughts turned to 
America. There, in the wilderness of the New World, they could 
worship God as they pleased and could live and die as Englishmen. 
So in July, 1620, the Pilgrims bade Holland farewell and started on 
the long journey to America. 

The Pilgrims leave England in the Mayflower. They sailed 
first to Southampton, in England, where a stout ship, the MayUower, 
was waiting to take them across the Atlantic. In September, 1620, 
the Mayflower sailed with one hundred and two passengers on board, 
Brewster and Bradford being among the number. Brewster was now 
a preacher and was the regular pastor of the Pilgrim band. Another 
leader on board the Mayflower was Miles Standish, as brave a soldier 
as ever drew sword. 

■ " Short in stature he was, but strongly built and athletic, 

Broad-shouldered, deep-chested, with muscles and sinews of iron." 

The Pilgrims land first at Provincetown and then at Plymouth. 

After a long and stormy voyage, the Mayflozver, on the 9th of No- 
vember, came in sight of Cape Cod. It was the plan of the Pilgrims 
to settle on the coast somewhere between the Hudson and the Dela- 
ware; but when they saw the shores of Cape Cod, they decided to go 
no farther south. So the Mayflower sailed into what is now the har- 
bor of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where a landing-place was 
found. Before going on shore the Pilgrims gathered in the cabin 



56 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




In the cabin of the Mayflower they signed 
a compact. 



of the Mayflozver and signed a com- 
pact by which they agreed to be gov- 
erned. They chose John Carver as 
their first governor. 

The Pilgrims soon found that Prov- 
incetown was not a good location for 
a settlement. So Miles Standish, 
Bradford, and several others were sent 
out in a small boat to look for a better 
place. On December 21, 1620, they landed on the shore of the bay 
called Plymouth Harbor. The landing was made near a great boul- 
der to which was givea the name of Plymouth Rock. In a few days 
Standish and his men returned to the Mayflozver and reported that 
the shore around Plymouth Harbor would be a good spot. So the 
Mayfloiver left Provincetown and sailed to Plymouth. As they 
landed, they stepped on Plymouth Rock. The first person to step on 
the rock was a little girl named Mary Chilton — 

"The first on Plymouth Rock to leap 
With heart of Christian fortitude 
And light heroic on her brow." 

They begin the work of settlement at Plymouth. It v^as in the 
dead of winter. A very hard winter it was when the Pilgrims landed 
at Plymouth, and they suffered 
greatly from the cold. Still, 
they went to work with right 
good will. First they built a 
fort for protection against the 
Indians. Then they began to 
build the houses which they 
were to use as dwellings. As . ^, , , , ^, ^ ^ „, ,, ^ , 

^ As they landed they stepped on Plymouth Rock. 




PLYMOUTH: WILLIAM BREWSTER. WILLIAM BRADFORD 57 






fast as one was built, a family from the Mayflozver moved into it, 
bringing their household goods — the high-backed chairs, the wooden 
bedsteads with their tall posts, the pewter dishes, the brass candlesticks, 
the great iron kettles. Soon they had to build a rude hospital for the 
sick, for many of the Pilgrims, weakened by the long voyage, were 
unable to stand the hardships of the first winter. Many were over- 
taken by disease and many died. Among them was John Carver, 
and Bradford was at once chosen governor in his place. 

The Pilgrims and the Indians. After the long terrible winter 
came the pleasant spring, and with it came better times for the colo- 
nists. As soon as it was warm enough, 
the Pilgrims began to plant their corn. 
While they were at this work, there came 
into Plymouth an Indian named Squanto. 
This Indian had been captured by white 
men some years before, and while he was 
with the white men he had learned to 
speak English. Squanto was friendly 
with the Pilgrims, and he was useful to 
them in many ways. He taught them 
when to plant their corn, and how. They 
rnust plant it, he said, when the leaf of the oak was as big as a mouse's 
ear; and, if they wished a good crop, they must drop one or two her- 
rings in each hill along with the seeds of corn. 

One day an Indian from a tribe near by brought into the settlement 
a bundle of arrows wrapped in the skin of a snake. Squanto told the 
Pilgrims that the arrows were a threat of war. As a reply. Governor 
Bradford filled the snake's skin with powder and bullets and sent it 
back to the chief of the tribe from which it came with the message 
that, if the Indians wanted war, he was ready for them. 





There came^ an Indian named 
Squanto. 



58 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

But it was many years before there was any trouble between the 
people of Plymouth and the Indians, for Governor Bradford dealt 
kindly with the red men and made friends of them. Once, it is true, 
the Indians entered into a plot to kill all the Pilgrims, but Bradford 
heard of it and sent eight men under Miles Standish against the 
guilty ones, who were severely punished. 

The growth of Plymouth. Governor Bradford proved to be the 
right man in the right place, and for more than twenty years he 
served as governor of Plymouth. Under his wise rule the colony at 
Plymouth year by year grew larger and larger. In 1632 a new town 
named Duxbury was formed north of them, and before Governor 
Bradford died, in 1644, seven more towns had been built around 
Plymouth. In 1643 the colony had a population of nearly 3,000. 
The people by this time were making a good living and were con- 
tented and happy. So Bradford and his fellow Pilgrims were re- 
warded for their toil and suffering. In America they found what 
they had sought — a home where they could live in peace and where 
they could worship God as they wished. 

1. When and where did the Pilgrhns make a settlement? 

2. What can you say of William Brewster and William Bradford? 

3. Why did the members of the Scrooby Church leave England? 

4. Give an account of the Pilgrims in Holland. 

5. Describe the voyage of the Mayflower. 

6. Tell the story of the settlement at Plymouth. 

7. How did the Pilgrims get along with the Indians? 

8. What can you say of the services of Bradford as governor? 
Q. Give an account of the growth of the Plymouth colony. 



I 



LESSON X 

MASSACHUSETTS: JOHN WINTHROP 

Where is Massachusetts Bay? Boston Bay? What streams flow into Massa- 
chusetts Bay? Locate Salem, Massachusetts. Locate Boston; Lynn. Where is 
Charlestown, Massachusetts? Give the meaning of the following words: doctrine, 
purify, plight, emigrant. During what years was Charles I the King of England? 

Salem. By the time the little settlement at Plymouth was well 
on its feet, another English colony began to rise on the New England 
coast not many miles away. This was the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay, which was soon to swallow up the Plymouth colony and which 
in time became the great State of Massachusetts. The first settle- 
ment was made at Salem, w^hen, in 1629, six vessels, one of which 
was the Mayflower, brought from England about 400 persons, 140 
head of cattle, 40 goats, and a large supply of food, arms, tools, and 
other things needed to make homes in the wilderness. 

The Puritans. The colonists who landed at Salem were Puri- 
tans. And who were the Puritans? They were Englishmen who 
belonged to the Church of England, but who did not like the way in 
which the services of that church were conducted. The Puritans 
were very much like the Pilgrims in their ideas about religion. They 
desired plain, simple forms of worship and a pure doctrine. Because 
they wished a pure doctrine they were called Puritans. But they did 
not want to break away entirely from the Church of England as the 
Pilgrims had done. They preferred to remain in the church, and 
purify it from within. 

59 



6o 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




John Winthrop. 



John Winthrop. The first governor of the colony at Salem was 
John Endicott. When he had served for about a year, John Win- 
throp was chosen governor. Winthrop was born near Groton, Eng- 
land, in 1588, the year of the great Armada. When he was a youth 

he joined the Puritans, and remained faith- 
ful to them all his life. He was a brave, un- 
selfish man, and, like William Bradford (page 
53), he looked upon religion as the most 
important thing in the world. In his conduct 
he was guided by the words of the Bible and 
by the voice of his conscience. Whenever his 
conscience told him to do a thing, he was sure 
to do that thing. His chief purpose in com- 
ing to America was to help the Puritans to 
build up a strong Puritan church. At that 
time he was in the prime of life, and for twenty years he was the 
leader in the Massachusetts colony. He worked so long and so hard 
for its welfare and did so much for it that he was rightly called *' the 
father of Massachusetts." 

Winthrop leads a band of Puritans to America. It was in 1630 
that Winthrop left England and sailed to America to begin his duties 
as governor. With him came seven hundred other Puritans, the 
largest party of Englishmen who had yet crossed the Atlantic. When 
Winthrop reached Salem he found the colony in sad plight. Many 
of the settlers had died, and many of those who were still living were 
weak and sick. He decided that Salem was not a good place for a 
settlement, and looked for a better one. He chose the shores of what 
is now Boston Harbor as the best place for his new colonists to land, 
and soon they were building their houses on the banks of the streams 
that flow into Boston Bay. They did not, however, form a single 



MASSACHUSETTS: JOHN WINTHROP 



6i 




Coddington built the first good house. 



closely built settlement. " Some were best pleased here, others there, 

and in the end each settled where to him seemed best." 

Governor Winthrop and a few of the colonists built at Charlestown. 

Another small group chose the banks 

of the Saugus River and founded 

Lynn. Still another group drew 

their boats up to the shore where 

the Charles River empties into the 

bay. Here the colonists beheld a 

little pensinsula that was blessed 

with sweet and pleasant springs, 

safe pastures, and a soil that promised rich corn-fields and fruitful 

gardens. Of course this beautiful spot was immediately chosen. 

Anne Pollard, in youthful frolic, was the first to leap ashore. Wil- 
liam Coddington built the first good house, 
and because he had lived in Boston, England, 
the settlement on the peninsula was called 
Boston. It grew rapidly into a town, and 
soon it became the capital of the colony and 
the heart of Massachusetts. 

Why the Puritans came to America. 
Why did these Puritans leave England ? Be- 
cause they were being badly treated there on 
account of their religion. The king of Eng- 
land, Charles I, wanted all his subjects to be- 
long to the Church of England, and he com- 
manded his officers to punish any persons who 

did not attend that church. The Puritans refused to do so, and they 

were severely dealt with. Some of them were imprisoned, while 

others had their ears cropped or their noses slit. It was to escape treat- 




Puritans. 



62 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



ment of this kind that the Puritans left their pleasant homes in their 
old country and sought refuge in the forests of New England. So, 
you see, both the Pilgrims and the Puritans came to America in order 
that they might have greater freedom in matters of religion. 

Life in the Massachusetts colony. For two or three years the 
Puritans did not find Massachusetts a very pleasant place in which to 
live, for it was a wilderness to which they had come, and they could 

not hope to escape its hardships. 
In six months after their arrival 
about two hundred of their num- 
ber had died. Still, life in the 
colony during the first years was 
much more pleasant than it was 
at Jamestown or at Plymouth. 
One of the Massachusetts colo- 
nists, when writing to a friend in 
England, said that any one who 
might come to the colony for the 
purpose of leading a religious life 
would not be disappointed. Such 
a person, the writer of the letter 
said, would find materials for 
building a house, fuel to burn, 
ground to plant, seas and rivers 
to fish in, pure air to breathe, 
good water to drink. In addi- 

Settlements around Massachusetts Bay. ^j^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^-^^^^^ ^^^ 

Puritans had the Pilgrims as neighbors upon whom they could call 
when in trouble. When a physician was needed, they had only to 
send to Plymouth for Doctor Fuller, and he would come promptly. 




MASSACHUSETTS: JOHN WINTHROP 63 

If there was trouble with the Indians and a good soldier was needed, 
Miles Standish was ready to fight as bravely for the Puritans as he 
fought for the Pilgrims. 

Growth of the Massachusetts colony. Under the leadership of 
Winthrop the colony of Massachusetts Bay grew more rapidly than 
any other that yet had been founded. In 1633 Puritans began to 
come to it in streams. As boat-load after boat-load of immigrants 
arrived, towns around Boston sprang up as if by magic. In less than 
ten years the population of the Massachusetts Bay colony was over 
15,000. This was greater than the population of Virginia and 
Plymouth put together. Surely by 1640 a nezv England was begin- 
ning to rise on the American coast. 

1. When and where were the first settlements in Massachusetts made? 

2. Who were the Puritans? 

3. Tell the story of John Winthrop and his band of Puritans, 

4. Why did the Puritans leave England and come to America? 

5. What can you say of the life of the Massachusetts colonists in the early days? 

6. Give an account of the growth of the Massachusetts colony. 



LESSON XI 

HOOKER, WILLIAMS, AND WHEELWRIGHT 

Where is Cambridge, Massachusetts ? Describe the Connecticut River. Where is 
the Mystic River? Locate Hartford, Connecticut. Locate New Haven, Connecticut. 
What do you understand by the word constitution ? Locate Providence, Rhode 
Island. What does the word "providence" mean? Locate Newport, Rhode 
Island. Locate Dover, New Hampshire. Locate Exeter, New Hampshire. What 
do you understand by the words " religious conviction " ? What do you under- 
stand by the words " dangerous doctrine " ? 

Thomas Hooker and his band settle in the Connecticut Valley. 

After 1630 the colonists from England settled around Massachusetts 
Bay in such numbers that it was not long before all the best land 
along the coast was occupied. So the settlers began to push west- 
ward into the wilderness, where there was plenty of room and plenty 
of good land. In 1636 Thomas Hooker, the pastor of the church of 
Newton, now Cambridge, led his congregation to the banks of the 
Connecticut River. He left Massachusetts because he did not like the 
manner in which the Puritans governed their colony. Besides, he 
knew that the rich valley of the Connecticut was an excellent place 
for a settlement. With Hooker went about one hundred men, women, 
and children. As Hooker and his band moved slowly through the 
great forest they rejoiced in the singing of birds and in the foliage 
and flowers, for the journey was made in June, when nature was wear- 
ing its loveliest dress. 

After working their way westward about one hundred miles, the 
emigrants came to the Connecticut Valley. They were charmed by 

64 



HOOKER, WILLIAMS AND WHEELWRIGHT 



65 




Hooker led his band to the banks of 
the Connecticut. 



the scene which lay before them, for in June this is one of the most 
beautiful valleys in the world. Hooker and his flock were glad to find 
a home on the banks of the Connecticut, 
choosing the spot where the city of Hart- 
ford now stands. Here the foundations 
of a new colony were laid, the colony of 
Connecticut. 

The Connecticut settlers have a war 
with the Pequots. It was several years 
before the pioneers were allowed to 
live in peace. The Indians in the val- 
ley felt that the white men were taking 
their lands away from them, and they 

treated the settlers as enemies. The Pequots gave the most trouble. 
Pequot warriors would hide in the woods and attack any of the whites 
who dared to go about alone. When a settler was captured he was 
cruelly tortured. 

But the Pequots were made to 
suffer for their cruel deeds. In 
1637 about a hundred armed men, 
led by Captain John Mason, 
marched against them and attacked 
them in their fort on the Mystic 
River. As Mason and his men 
were creeping quietly to the fort, 
a dog barked. Instantly an In- 
dian shouted '' OzvaniLv! Owa- 
nnxf' ["Englishmen! English- 
men!"] and Mason ordered his men to shoot. There was a fierce 
battle, and for a time it seemed that the white men would be de- 




The settlers attacking the Pequot fort. 



66 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

feated. But Captain Mason shouted, '' We must burn them ! " So 
the fort was set on fire, and those who did not perish in the flames 
were shot. After this, many years passed by before the white men 
of Connecticut were again troubled by the Indians.^ 

The Connecticut settlers draw up a plan of government. After 
the defeat of the Indians the Connecticut Valley began to fill up with 
whites. Within two years from the time that Hooker and his band 
settled at Hartford, two other towns, Wethersfield and Windsor, had 
sprung up in the Connecticut Valley. It was necessary to have a 
government. As they did not care to be governed by Massachusetts, 
they set up a government of their own. In 1639 the freemen, or 
voters, of the three towns came together, and drew up in writing a 
plan of government which they called the " Fundamental Orders." 
This plan was what we should now call a constitution. It was the 
first written constitution that was ever drawn up by a body of men 
for their own government. 

The New Haven colony. While Hooker and his followers were 
building the towns along the banks of the Connecticut, a new settle- 
ment was formed on the north shore of Long Island Sound. This 
was the colony of New Haven. Its leaders were John Davenport, a 
preacher from London, and Theophilus Eaton, a London merchant. 
They were strong Puritans, and they did everything they could to 
make New Haven a Puritan colony. 

In June, 1639, the New Haven settlers met in a large barn and they, 
too, drew up a constitution for their colony. One of its rules was 

1 In 1675 the Indians, under the leadership of a chief known as King Philip, 
attacked the town of Swansea in Rhode Island and killed eight men. This was 
the beginning of an Indian uprising which was called King Philip's War. Philip and 
his warriors burned many towns and killed many white men. The colonists, how- 
ever, joined their forces, and before the end of the summer of 1676 the Indians 
were defeated, and Philip himself was captured and slain. 



HOOKER, WILLIAMS AND WHEELWRIGHT 



67 




Connecticut and Rhode Island. 



that none but church members should be able to vote or to hold office. 
Another rule was that the words of the Bible should be accepted as 
law. For this reason the New 
Haven colony was called the 
Bible Commonwealth. But the 
New Haven colony did not 
have a very long life, for in 
1662 it united with the Connec- 
ticut River settlement and the 
two became known as Connec- 
ticut. 

Roger Williams. In the 
same month in which Hooker 
and his followers had settled on the banks of the Connecticut, an- 
other preacher from Massachusetts began to lay the foundations of a 
colony on the shores of Narragansett Bay. This man was Roger 

W^illiams, and the colony was Rhode 
Island. 

Williams was driven from Massa- 
chusetts on account of his religious be- 
liefs. He left the colony in the win- 
ter of 1636. For fourteen weeks he 
traveled through the wilderness. The 
season was bitter cold, yet for days 
at a time he was without fire or food. 
Often at night his bed was the hollow 
of a tree. His only friends were the 
Indians. From these, at times, he re- 
ceived food and shelter. He made his way alone until he came to the 
shores of the Seekonk River, where he was joined by five companions. 




Roger Williams in the wildernes 



68 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

With these he embarked in a frail canoe and made his way to the 
mouth of the stream. Here, in June, 1636, on the shore of Narra- 
gansett Bay, he made a settlement. He called the place Providence, 
in gratitude for God's merciful providence to him in his distress. 

Williams becomes the founder of Rhode Island. This was the 
beginning of the colony of Rhode Island. Here no person was dis- 
turbed on account of his religious belief. Puritans, Pilgrims, He- 
brews, all were welcome. Because of this freedom many who suf- 
fered on account of their religious convictions went to Rhode Island to 
live. Among these was Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. This excellent 
woman had held meetings in her home in Boston, and had taught doc- 
trines that the Puritan preachers thought were dangerous. Because 
of this teaching she was driven from Massachusetts. She was invited 
by Williams to come to Providence. So Mrs. Hutchinson and some 
of her followers settled in Rhode Island. New settlements were soon 
made in the neighborhood of Providence and it was not many years 
before Rhode Island was a prosperous, well-governed colony. 

John Wheelwright settles in New Hampshire. By the time 
Connecticut and Rhode Island were beginning to grow strong and 
prosperous, still another colony was growing up in the wild region 
which lay north of Massachusetts. This colony was New Hamp- 
shire. The first settlement was made at Dover in 1623. At about 
the same time a fishing-station was built near the spot where the city 
of Portsmouth now stands. 

One of the leaders of the New Hampshire colony was the preacher 
John Wheelwright, who for a while lived in Boston. He was the 
brother-in-law of Mrs. Hutchinson, and like Mrs. Hutchinson he was 
driven from Massachusetts on account of his religious beliefs. In 
1638 Wheelwright with nine companions moved up into New Hamp- 
shire and began to build the town of Exeter. The towns of New 



HOOKER, WILLIAMS AND WHEELWRIGHT 69 

Hampshire governed themselves in their ov^n way until 1643, when 
they w^ere made a part of Massachusetts. But New Hampshire did 
not remain a part of Massachusetts, for in 1691 it was made a sepa- 
rate colony again with a government of its own.^ 

The three offshoots of Massachusetts. Thus, before John Win- 
throp died, in 1649, ^^ had seen three Puritan preachers go out from 
Massachusetts and lay the foundations of three colonies that in time 
became States : Thomas Hooker had laid the foundations of Connecti- 
cut; Roger Williams had laid the foundations of Rhode Island; and 
John Wheelwright had laid the foundations of New Hampshire. 

1. Tell the story of Hooker and the settlement of Connecticut. 

2. Tell the story of the Peqiiot War, 

3. In what way did the settlers of Connecticut provide a government for them- 
selves ? 

4. Give the history of the New Haven colony. 

5. Tell the story of Roger Williams and the settlement of Rhode Island. 

6. Who was Anne Hutchinson? 

7. Tell the story of John Wheelwright and the settlement of New Hampshire. 

8. Name three colonies that were the offshoots of Massachusetts. 

1 In the same year in which New Hampshire was taken away from Massachusetts 
the region which is now the State of Maine was given to Massachusetts and was 
known as the district of Maine. 



LESSON XII 

THE OLD DOMINION ^ AND HER NEIGHBORS 

What is a rebel? What is a rebellion. What do you understand by the words 
"religious freedom" ? During what years was Charles II the King of England? 
Describe the course of the Potomac River. Define rival. Locate Albemarle Sound. 
Describe the Ashley River. Locate Charleston, South Carolina. 

Our story now takes us back to Virginia, where we left the colo- 
nists (page 44) building their homes along the banks of the rivers and 
creeks that flow into the Chesapeake Bay. 

Life in the Old Dominion. After the Virginians began to make 
their own laws, the colony flourished as never before. Larger fields 
of tobacco were planted, and a greater number of slaves were brought 
over from Africa. Sometimes a single planter owned hundreds of 
slaves and thousands of acres of land. Almost every family lived 
within sight of a river, and many of the planters had their private 
wharves where ships from England could land their cargoes. The in- 
coming ship would bring to the planter mahogany furniture, rich car- 
pets, fine cloth and silks, and take away tobacco in payment for these 
goods. In this way many of the Virginia planters managed to live 
in comfort and ease, and many of them grew rich. So more and 
more the Old Dominion became a place in which it was pleasant to 
live. Land was cheap, and everybody who would work could make 
a living. The creeks and rivers abounded in oysters and fish, the 
forests were alive with game, and hogs in great numbers ran at large 

1 The colony of Virginia was often called the Old Dominion. 

70 



THE OLD DOMINION AND HER NEIGHBORS 



71 



in the woods. By 1675 the population of Virginia was nearly 50,000 
and the colony was the best '* poor man's country " in the world. 

Bacon punishes the Indians. But life in the Old Dominion was 
not always pleasant and peaceful. One night in January, 1676, the 
Indians attacked some new settlements that had just been made on the 
outskirts of the colony and murdered about fifty persons. The peo- 
ple of Virginia demanded that the savages be punished for this out- 
rage, but the governor, Sir William Berkeley, would not send any 
soldiers against the Indians. Berkeley was not a good governor. He 
ruled in a harsh manner and he gave too much attention to his private 
affairs. So he was greatly disliked by the people. When he refused 
to punish the Indians the colonists became very angry. They de- 
clared that, if the governor would not defend them, they would de- 
fend themselves. They armed themselves and chose a brave young 
man, Nathaniel Bacon, to lead them. Bacon with his little company 
of white men marched against the Indians and punished them in a 
manner that they did not soon forget. 

Bacon's Rebellion. This action of Bacon greatly pleased the 
people of Virginia but it angered 
Governor Berkeley, who declared 
that Bacon was a rebel because 
he had attacked the Indians 
against the wishes of the gov- 
ernor. So Berkeley and Bacon 
began to quarrel. Bacon marched 
with his men against Jamestown 
and burned the state-house, the 
church, and many of the best 

dwellings. Then he drove Governor Berkeley from the colony. 
Bacon was now the most powerful man in Virginia ; but just when he 




Ruins of the church burned by Bacon and his 

followers. 




^2 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

was at the height of his power, he fell sick of a fever and died. His 
followers disbanded, Berkeley returned, and there was peace again in 
the Old Dominion. 

George Calvert. About the time the colony of Virginia began 
to grow strong the colony of Maryland was planted. Its founder 
was George Calvert, an English nobleman, who held 
the title of Lord Baltimore. Calvert was a Cath- 
olic. He was devoted to his church, but the laws 
of England were as severe against the Catholics as 
they were against the Puritans (page 6i), and did 
not allow him to use the forms of worship that 
he desired. So Calvert, like Bradford, Winthrop, 
and others, looked to America as a place where he 
could enjoy religious freedom. He went with his 
family to Newfoundland, where he hoped to found a colony. But 
the climate was too cold. From there he went to Jamestown, but 
he found that Catholics were treated as badly in Virginia as they 
were in England. So he went to Charles I, who was his warm per- 
sonal friend, and asked for a tract of land upon which he could found 
a colony of his own. The king granted his request, making him a 
grant of territory in the region of Chesapeake Bay. The land granted 
to Lord Baltimore was called Maryland. 

The beginnings of Maryland. George Calvert died before the 
actual settlement was begun. His son, Cecil Calvert, however, car- 
ried out the plans which had been so dear to the heart of his father. 
He sent about two hundred settlers to Maryland to begin the 
work of building houses and planting the fields. The governor of 
the colony was Leonard Calvert, the brother of Cecil. The Ark and 
the Dove, the two ships which brought the Maryland colonists, crossed 
the ocean in safety and sailed into the Potomac River in March, 1634. 




THE OLD DOMINION AND HER NEIGHBORS 73 

A landing was made on the bank of a small stream which flows into 
the Potomac. The settlers, most of whom were Catholics, took two 
trees and made a large cross which they erected as a sign of the Chris- 
tian religion. Two days later Calvert purchased from the Indians a 
large tract of land, giving in return axes, hoes, and knives. He then 
began building a settlement near the 
mouth of the Potomac .River. This 
was called St. Mary's. 

Life in early Maryland. The 
colonists of Maryland did not un- 
dergo such hardships as were ex- 
perienced by the Jamestown and 

Plymouth settlers. The Indians The settlers took^two trees and made a large 

were friendly, and they helped the 

settlers in many ways. They sold their lands willingly and at a cheap 
price. They also helped the whites to plant their corn, and taught 
them how to make bread called '' pone " with corn-meal and how to 
prepare hominy from unground corn. The first corn crop raised 
by the Maryland colonists was so large that they could supply their 
own needs and still have some to sell. But the chief crop was 
tobacco, and this proved to be as profitable in Maryland as it was in 
Virginia. 

The growth of Maryland. Maryland rapidly became a rich and 
prosperous colony. Her fields were fertile, and her orchards pro- 
duced excellent fruit. In the waters of the Chesapeake Bay there was 
sea-food of almost every kind — crabs, clams, oysters, and terrapin. 
Along the shores of the bay there flew thousands of canvasback ducks. 
Sometimes a flock of ducks would be a mile wide and several miles 
long. All this brought settlers in large numbers. In less than thirty 
years after the landing of Calvert Maryland had a population of 



74 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



nearly 15,000. So by 1665 the Old Dominion had a northern neigh- 
bor which was fast becoming her rival. 

North Carolina. By this time, also, the Old Dominion was be- 
ginning to have some neighbors at the south. One of them was North 
Carolina. As early as 1650 settlers from southern Virginia began to 
go across the border and make homes for themselves along the shores 
of Albemarle Sound, where there was good farming land and plenty 

of grass for their cattle. So 
many people moved down into 
the Albemarle country that it 
soon became necessary for them 
to have a government. So in 
1665 they held an assembly con- 
sisting of a governor, a coun- 
cil, and twelve delegates. This 
meeting was the beginning of the 
colony of North Carolina. 

South Carolina. Another 
neighbor of the Old Dominion 
Along the Carolina coast. ^^g South Carolina. This col- 

ony had its beginning in 1670, w^hen three ship-loads of Englishmen 
landed at the mouth of the Ashley River and built a village, which 
they called Charlestown in honor of the king, Charles II. But the 
settlers did not like the location at the mouth of the Ashley River, 
so they soon began to leave it and move up to the point of land which 
lies between the Ashley and the Cooper Rivers. Here they built a 
new Charlestown (now Charleston). The colonists of South Caro- 
lina raised rice and indigo. The rice-swamps were so unhealthy that 
white men did not like to work in them, so they were cultivated by 
negro slaves. The owners of the rice plantations lived in Charles- 




THE OLD DOMLVION AND HER NEIGHBORS 



75 



town. So life in South Carolina centered in that town, which grew 
so rapidly that it soon became one of the largest and most beautiful 
cities on the American coast. 

Indians and pirates. Life in the two Carolinas in the early days 
was not so pleasant and peaceful as it was in Maryland. In North 
Carolina the colonists suffered from the attacks of the savages. 
In 171 1 the Tuscarora Indians, in the darkness of the night, rushed 
upon the settlers along the Roanoke River and cruelly killed nearly 
two hundred persons. The whites in revenge sent a small army 
against them, defeated them in battle, destroyed their forts, and cap- 
tured about 800 of their w^arriors. 

In South Carolina there was trouble with the pirates. These sea- 
rovers lived on the sounds and inlets along the coast. Whenever they 
saw a helpless ship passing by, they would dart 
out from their hiding-place and capture it. 
Sometimes all on board the ship were put to 
death. The leader of the pirates was known as 
Blackbeard, although his real name was Ed- 
ward Teach. This terrible man, it is said, 
would twine wax candles in his great mustache, 
and go into battle with the candles burning. 
For many years Blackbeard kept the Carolina 
coast in a state of terror. But at last he was 
captured and was punished for his crimes. Yet, 
in spite* of the Indians and pirates, both North 
Carolina and South Carolina passed through the 

trying years in safety, and in time became strong and flourishing 
colonies. 




JJlackbeard. 



1. What can you say about life in the Old Dominion? 

2. Give an account of the troubles with the Indians. 



^d FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

3. Tell the story of Bacon's Rebellion. 

4. Who was George Calvert? What efforts did he make to found a colony in 
America? 

5. Give an account of the settlement of Maryland. 

6. What can you say of the life in Maryland in the early days, and what of 
the growth of the colony? 

7. Give the early history of North Carolina. 

8. Give the early history of South Carolina. 

9. What trouble did the settlers of North Carolina and South Carolina have with 
the Indians? 



LESSON XIII 

THE MIDDLE COLONIES. WILLIAM PENN 

Name the Middle States. Locate Elizabeth, New Jersey. Locate Philadelphia. 
Define prosperous, prosperity. What are some of the blessings of free govern- 
ment? Locate Wilmington, Delaware. What do you know about the Quakers as a 
religious society? Where in the United States do a great many Quakers live at 
this time? What is the area of Pennsylvania in square miles? If Pennsylvania 
were sold for $80,000, how much would that be an acre? 

The surrender of the Dutch at New Amsterdam. About the 
time the first homes were being built in North CaroHna great things 
were happening in the Dutch colony at New Amsterdam. In 1664 
Charles II of England decided that the Dutch rule in America should 
come to an end. He sent four vessels and about three hundred fight- 
ing men to New Amsterdam. When the English fleet reached New 
Amsterdam, the commander, Sir Robert Nichols, sent to the Dutch 
governor, Peter Stuyvesant, a letter demanding the surrender of the 
town. Stuyvesant had a wooden leg, and he stamped it firmly when 
he read the letter from Nichols, and swore he would never sur- 
render. But, in spite of his oath, he was compelled to do so, for 
the English were too strong for him. The Dutch flag which waved 
over the fort was hauled down, and the English flag was run up in its 
place. 

Thus New Amsterdam passed out of the hands of the Dutch into 
the hands of the English, and the Dutch colony in America became an 
English colony. You ought to remember the date, 1664, for with 

17 



78 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



the surrender of New Amsterdam the whole sea-coast from Nova 
Scotia to Florida was brought under the control of the English. 
The beginning of New Jersey. Even before the surrender, 

Charles II had given to his brother 
James, the Duke of York, all the 
land in America held by the Dutch. 
The Duke, therefore, became the 
owner of all the territory now in- 
cluded in the States of New York, 
New Jersey, and Delaware. He 
kept New York for himself, but he 
gave New Jersey to two of his 
friends, Sir George Carteret and 
John Lord Berkeley, a brother of 
Sir William Berkeley of Virginia. 

Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir 
George, was appointed as the first 
governor of New Jersey. He came 
over in the summer of 1665 with 
some thirty colonists and landed at 
the point now known as Elizabeth- 
port. A spot several miles inland 
was chosen as the place for a settle- 
ment. The colonists marched to it 
with Governor Carteret at their head 
carrying a hoe on his shoulder to sig- 
nify that labor was to be no disgrace 
in New Jersey. The settlers went to 
work in earnest and soon there arose a cluster of houses which Car- 
teret called Elizabethtown in honor of his wife. 




Early settlements in New York and New- 
Jersey. 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES. WILLIAM PENN 



79 




carried a hoe on his shoulder to 
signify that labor was to be 
no disgrace. 



The governor had the power to rule the colonists pretty much as 
he pleased, but he ruled them kindly and well. He gave them 
lands to cultivate for themselves, and he let them make their own laws. 
Under his management New Jersey grew 
rapidly in population. Settlers came to the 
colony, not only from old England, but 
also from New England and New York. 
All w^ho came fared well. They enjoyed 
the blessings of a free government, and 
they were allowed freedom in matters 
of religion. They also shared in the 
general prosperity, for in New Jersey in 
early times a poor person was seldom ^^ 
found. 

Hudson's trip on the Delaware Bay. We now come to the 
settlement of Delaware. The story of this State takes us back to the 
time of Henry Hudson ; for, when Hudson crossed the Atlantic in the 
Half Moon, he first entered Delaware Bay. He believed that on the 
waters of this bay he could sail to the Pacific Ocean. But he was 
disappointed, for after a sail of only a few hours his vessel ran upon 
mud-banks, and he had to turn back, just as he did a few^ months later 
when his vessel grounded in the shallow water near Albany (page 51 ). 
This trip of Hudson up the Delaware was important, because it led 
the Dutch to claim the land on both sides of Delaware Bay. 

The Swedes in Delaware. But soon, in 1638, there came to the 
Delaware country some colonists from Sweden, who settled at 
Christiana, near the spot where the city of Wilmington now stands. 
They bought some lands from the Indians, and began to till the soil 
and carry on a trade in furs. But the Dutch claimed that Delaware 
belonged to them, and they decided that the Swedes should not take 



8o FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

possession of it. In 1655 Governor Stuyvesant sailed into Delaware 
Bay with six hundred men and compelled the Swedish settlement to 
surrender. But the Dutch themselves were not allowed to hold Dela- 
ware very long; for when New Amsterdam was given to the Duke of 
York, Delaware also came under his control. It remained so until 
1682, when it was granted to William Penn. 

William Penn and the Quakers. The name of William Penn 
brings us to the story of Pennsylvania, the great colony of which he 
was the founder and the father. Penn was one 
of the greatest and most interesting of the 
colonial leaders. He was born in London in 
1644. While still at college, Penn began to at- 
tend the meetings of the Quakers, and soon he 
became a Quaker preacher. 

Penn's father disliked the Quakers very 
much, and he tried to get his son to leave them. 
This Penn would not do, and on account of his 

William Penn. 

religious belief he suffered many hardships. He 
was turned out of college and driven from his father's house. Later 
he was arrested for preaching at Quaker meetings, and was fined for 
not removing his hat in the presence of the judges. Once he was 
thrown into prison and told that, if he did not give up his religion, he 
would never be set free. But this did not frighten him. He re- 
mained faithful to the Quakers and at last he was released. 

Pennsylvania is granted to Penn. When his father died, 
William Penn came into possession of a large fortune. A part of his 
estate was a claim against King Charles II for a sum of money 
amounting to about $80,000. This was more money than the king 
could spare. So, instead of paying the debt in cash, he paid it in land, 
giving to Penn a great tract of land in America lying west of the Dela.- 




THE MIDDLE COLONIES. WILLIAM PENN 



8i 



ware River. Since the land was covered with forests, Penn named it 
Sylvania, after sylva, the Latin word for forest. In front of this 
word the king wrote Penn. So 
the territory given to Penn was 
called Pennsylvania. 

Penn and the Indians. In 
1682 Penn went to his new pos- 
session, taking with him about 
one hundred colonists, most of 
them Quakers. The work of 
settlement was begun on the 
banks of the Delaware, where 
there quickly arose a city which 
Penn called Philadelphia, the 
City of Brotherly Love. 

One of the first things done by 
Penn was to buy the land from 
the Indians. Although he held 
a title to it from the kine 



he 




Delaware River and Delaware Bay. 



nevertheless felt that the true owners were the Indians, and he would 
not call an acre of it his own until he had first bought it at a fair price 
from the red men. 

Penn did everything he could to secure the friendship of the In- 
dians. He walked with them, sat with them on the ground, and ate 

with them, sharing with them their meals of 
acorns and hominy. This kindliness and 
Treaty belt made of wampum, given fricndliness of manner plcascd the Indians 

to Penn by the Indians. . , 1 ,1 ,1 

very much and encouraged them to be 
kindly and friendly in return. In the spirit of good fellowship they 
began to show Penn how they could hop and jump. At this Penn him- 




82 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

self began to hop and jump and showed that he could beat them 
all. 

In 1683, beneath a great elm-tree, Penn met the chiefs of seventeen 
tribes of Indians and made a treaty of peace with them. In this treaty 
it was agreed that the English and the Indians should live together in 
love and friendship as long as the sun gave light. This agreement 
was sacredly kept for nearly seventy years. 

The growth of Pennsylvania. In a very short time Penn's 
colony was in a happy and prosperous condition. The soil of Penn- 
sylvania was rich, the climate was mild and agreeable, and the great 
forest was alive with deer and other wild animals. Settlers came to 
the country by hundreds and by thousands. Within twenty years 
after Penn landed on the banks of the Delaware the colony of Penn- 
sylvania had a population of 20,000 and Philadelphia had grown to be 
a city of 10,000 souls. By the year 1700 Pennsylvania was one of the 
largest and most flourishing colonies in America. 

1. Give an account of the surrender of the Dutch at New Amsterdam. 

2. What was the early history of New Jersey? 

3. Give an account of Hudson's trip on Delaware Bay. 

4. Tell about the Swedes in Delaware. 

5. Tell the story of Penn and the Quakers. 

6. Why was Pennsylvania granted to Penn? 

7. Tell the story of Penn and the Indians. 

8. What can you say about the growth of Pennsylvania? 







OUR CO 







N 1750 



LESSON XIV 

OUR COUNTRY IN I75O 

Name the States that border on the Atlantic Ocean. Which of these States ex- 
tend westward as far as the mountains? Where is the Cumberland Valley? Where 
is the Shenandoah Valley? Locate Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Harrisburg, Penn- 
sylvania ; Winchester, Virginia ; Worcester, Massachusetts ; Newark, New Jersey ; 
Trenton, New Jersey ; Richmond, Virginia ; Norfolk, Virginia ; Savannah, Georgia, 
Define the following words : poverty, accomplish, frontier, civilize, civilization, wharf, 
immigrant. 

Georgia. After the colony of Pennsylvania was founded in 
1682, many years passed before another English colony was planted 
on the American coast. Yet there was plenty of room for another 
colony, for the long stretch of country which lay between Florida and 
South Carolina was still wild and unsettled. The English wanted 
this part of the coast for themselves, and in 1733 they planted a new 
colony there. This was called Georgia in honor of 
George II, who was then king of England. 

James Oglethorpe. The leader of the Geor- 
gia colony was James Oglethorpe. This kind- 
hearted man lived in London, where he saw around 
him a great many poor men who could not pay their 
debts and who suffered much because of their pov- 
erty. He believed these poor people would be hap- 
james Oglethorpe. pj^^. j^^ America, whcrc there was plenty of land and 
where everybody who would work could make a living. So he gath- 
ered together a band of about one hundred persons, and sailed with 

S3 




84 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

them to America. They landed at the mouth of the Savannah River. 
Here they buih a town, called Savannah. 

Oglethorpe wanted Georgia to be one of the best colonies along the 
coast and he worked hard for its success. With his own hands he 
helped to clear away the trees, to build the houses, and to till the fields. 
By setting a good example he encouraged others to do their best. 
Georgia grew rapidly and in a few years became an important colony. 

The thirteen colonies. There were now^ thirteen English colo- 
nies in North America : New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 
Y'ou do not find the name of Plymouth in the list because that colony 
was joined to Massachusetts in 1689, and at that date the separate 
life of the Plymouth colony came to an end. 

How did our country, with its thirteen colonies, look about the year 
1750? By that date Englishmen had been in America nearly one 
hundred and fifty years. What had they accomplished during these 
long years of hard labor? 

The Frontier Line. The double-page map between pages 88 and 
89 will help you to answer the questions just asked. You will ob- 
serve on it a heavy black line, running generally north and south, 
but at different distances from the seacoast. In some places the line 
is only a few miles from the coast, in others it is as much as a hundred 
miles back from the coast. This heavy black line is the Frontier 
Line. It is so called because it marks the front, or edge, of the white 
man's settlements. In other words, the Frontier Line marks the west- 
ern boundary of the settled country. 

East of the Frontier Line we see the country that by 1750 had been 
brought under the white man's control. East of the line there was 
civilized life; there were cities and towns, and fine houses and well- 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1750 85 

tilled fields, churches and schools. West of the line we see the great 
dark forests in which lived only the red men and the wild beasts. 
As our story proceeds, you will find the Frontier Line moving farther 
and farther to the west; and if you wish to understand our country's 
growth, you must follow the westward movement of the Frontier 
Line. 

Our country in 1750 compared with our country before the 
white man came. As your eye runs over the double-page map 
between pages 88 and 89, you cannot help seeing that between the 
days of John Smith and the days of Oglethorpe mighty changes took 
place in America. The portion of the map east of the Frontier Line 
shows you what kind of a place our country was in 1750. Compare 
this with what you see on the map between pages 8 and 9, which 
shows what kind of a place our country was before the white man 
came. You will notice that, by 1750, the forests along the coast had 
nearly all been cleared away, and the wild animals had been driven 
out. You will observe, too, that along the coast the wigwams of the 
Indians had disappeared and the houses of the white man had taken 
their place. 

The Scotch-Irish. The map shows you that by 1750 in Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia the houses of the white man had been built as 
far west as the Alleghany Mountains. Many of the settlements in the 
western part of Pennsylvania and Virginia were made by the Scotch- 
Irish. The Scotch-Irish were Scotchmen who in the seventeenth cen- 
tury left Scotland and settled in Ireland. 

But the Scotchmen grew tired of Ireland, and in the eighteenth 
century many came to America. By 1730 they were landing on the 
wharves at Philadelphia in such numbers that the people already living 
there were afraid the newcomers would take possession of their city. 
Ten thousand of these immigrants came to Philadelphia in one year. 



86 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

But they did not all remain there. Many of them pushed out into the 
forests of Pennsylvania and settled wherever they could find good 
land. As the years went by, they moved farther and farther west, 
and by 1750 they had carried their settlements to the Cumberland Val- 
ley and far down into the Shenandoah Valley. 

The Pennsylvania Dutch. There were other settlers in these 
valleys — the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch. These people were not 
Dutch at all, but Germans, who had left their homes in Germany 
because they were badly treated. They began to come to America 
even sooner than the Scotch-Irish, for as early as 1692 some settled 
near Philadelphia and built the town of Germantown. In 1700 they 
founded the town of Lancaster. By 1730 these Pennsylvania Dutch 
had pushed as far west as Harrisburg and were making settlements 
in the Cumberland Valley. In 1732 a Pennsylvania Dutchman named 
Joist Hite built a home near the present town of Winchester, Vir- 
ginia, and, before many years had passed, there were large numbers 
of Pennsylvania Dutch in the Shenandoah Valley. 

The important cities and towns in 1750. The map between 
pages 88 and 89 shows that by 1750 many cities and towns had been 
built along the coast and on the banks of the rivers that flow into the 
Atlantic. You see on the map the names of such places as Boston, 
Providence, Hartford, Albany, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah. Some of these places were hardly 
more than villages in 1750, but many of them were good-sized towns. 
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston were large enough 
to be called cities. Philadelphia had a population of more than 20,- 
000, and was the largest city in North America. 

^y 1750 all the colonies were growing rapidly in wealth and popu- 
lation. We do not know the exact number of people living here in 
1750, for a careful count was not made in those days as it is now, but 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1750 87 

it is certain that more than a million white men were then living in 
the colonies. 

1. When was the colony of Georgia founded? 

2. What can you say of James Oglethorpe ? 

3. What is meant by the Frontier Line? 

4. What kind of a place was our country in 1750 when compared with our coun- 
try before the white man came? 

5. Who were the Scotch Irish? Where did they settle? 

6. Who were the Pennsylvania Dutch? Where did they settle? 

7. Name the important towns along the Atlantic coast in 1750. 

8. What was the population of the colonies in 1750. 



LESSON XV 

LIFE IN THE COLONIES 

Name the thirteen English colonies which were planted between 1607 and 1733. 
Which of these colonies had no seacoast? Which of them extended as far west as 
the Alleghany Mountains? Define site, mansion, flint, tinder, trencher. How do 
people in these days obtain their clothing? Did you ever see a loom? 

In the lessons that have gone before, you have learned how Eng- 
land, between the years 1607 and 1733, took possession of the Atlantic 
seaboard and planted thirteen English colonies in the eastern part of 
North America. In this and the next two lessons you are to learn 
how the people in these colonies lived: how they built and furnished 
their homes, how they made their living, how they worshiped, how 
they educated their children, how they amused themselves. 

The wildness of colonial life. If you wish to understand the life 
of the colonists you must keep in mind the fact that every one of the 
settlements was planted in a forest and that for many years the peo- 
ple lived with woods all around them. It is true that along the coast 
the forests were gradually cleared away; but after this was done 
there still lay back of the settlers the great dark woods (page 9) in 
which roamed wild animals and savages. So you must think of life 
in the colonies as being the hard life of the wilderness and one full 
of dangers. Even the towns were not much better. In the town of 
New York, as late as 1670, chickens and goats ran about in the 
streets, and the rooting of the pigs on Broadway so tore up the ground 
as to make it impossible for wagons and carts to pass along. 

88 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



89 




He built himself a log cabin. 



The colony a place for hard work. Where everything was so 
wild and rough and new there was a vast amount of hard work to be 
done. Before food could be raised, trees had to be cut down to make 
a clearing where grain could be planted. Every road leading from 
one part of the colony to another had to be 
made by cutting a path through the forest 
and building bridges over streams. So the 
life of the colonists was a life of toil. Day 
in and day out, from sun up till sun down, it 
was work, work, work. 

The houses of the colonists. One of 
the first tasks of the colonist was to build himself a house in which 
to live. The forest gave him all the lumber he wanted and more. 
He had no sawmills, but he had a sharp broadax with which he could 
cut and hew logs. So he built himself a log-cabin, filling with clay the 
cracks between the timbers. Sometimes the cracks were not filled and 
the occupants of the cabin were exposed to the wind and the weather. 

We are told of a settler w^ho while asleep 
was scratched on the head by the teeth of 
a wolf who had thrust his nose into the 
space between the logs of the cabin. 

The log-cabin, at its best, was very 
uncomfortable, and it was not long be- 
fore there arose on the site of the cabin 
with its single room a neatly built frame 
house with several rooms. As the colo- 
nists grew wealthier, their homes grew larger and more comfortable. 
In the large towns, such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, there 
were houses of considerable size, while on the great plantations in the 
South there were mansions of remarkable beauty. 




Houses grew larger and more 
comfortable. 



90 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Cooking, making a fire, heating, lighting. The most important 
room in the colonial house was the kitchen, and the most important 
part of the kitchen was the big fireplace. Here all the cooking was 
done. Above there was an iron bar to which were fastened iron 
hooks — called pot-hooks. Upon these were hung the pots and ket- 
tles, while beneath blazed the great log-fire which cooked the food, for 
the colonists had not learned the use of coal. 

If by bad luck or carelessness the fire was allowed to die out, it 
was very hard to start it again, for there were no matches. One could 




J/V/ "V I '.I •<. ' 



In the South there were beautiful mansions. 




make a spark by striking fiint upon steel. By letting the spark fall 
into a dry substance called tinder they could, by blowing very hard, 
cause the tinder to burn. But this was not easy to do. Sometimes 
the fire-maker had to work for an hour before he could get a flame. 

The kitchen was important not only because it was where the cook- 
ing was done, but also because it was the only room in the house that 
was heated. Nowhere in the world had man yet learned to heat by 
means of stoves or furnaces or steam. In cold weather even the 
kitchen was a cold place, for the heat of the log-fire could be felt only 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



91 



a few feet away. One writer tells us of the ink freezing on his pen 
as he wrote beside the chimney. 

The houses were lighted as poorly as they were heated, for the 
colonists never so much as dreamed of an electric light or a gas-light. 
Indeed, they did not even have a good oil-lamp. In many homes the 
only light was a burning knot, or stick, of pine. Many a book was 
read, many a lesson was studied, and many a garment was sewed by 
the smoky light of a pine-knot. In some houses candles made of wax 
or tallow were burned, but candles were very costly, and only the 
well-to-do could afford to buy them. In many Puritan households 
evening prayers were said in the dark, for the Puritans prayed a long 
time, and it was very expensive to keep the candle burning while the 
prayers were being said. 

The colonial dining-room. Besides being poorly heated and 
poorly lighted the houses were poorly fur- 
nished. The dining-table was simply a long J|| 
board about three feet wide with trestles at 
each end to support it. On each side was a 
long, narrow bench upon which the grown- 
up people sat when they ate. The children, as a rule, were not allowed 
to sit at the table; they either stood behind the grown people and 
ate, or took their meals by themselves at a little side- 
table. 

Most of the dishes were made of wood. Instead of 
plates there were wooden bowls called trenchers. But 
there was not a separate one for each person at the 
table, for as a rule two ate out of the same trencher. 
Nor did each have his own tumbler or drinking-vessel. 
There was a common drinking-vessel called the tankard. This was 
usually made of wood, and was passed from hand to hand. All who 




Wooden trenchers and spoons. 




A tankard. 



92 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

sat at the table drank from it. There was no china, no glassware, no 
covered dishes. But there were plenty of napkins. The early colo- 
nists had no forks, and, since the food had to be held in the fingers, 
the napkin was a most useful article. 

The food of the colonists. Though the colonists had but few 
dishes, their tables Were heavily laden with food. And why should 
they not be when a thirty-pound turkey could be bought for a shilling, 
and pigeons for a penny a dozen, and when fish could be caught as 
fast as they could be hauled in with the line? Because everything 
was so cheap, the colonists enjoyed a great variety of eatables. One 
writer tells us of a dinner he had in Philadelphia, and this is what was 
on the table : duck, ham, chicken, beef, pig, tarts, custard, jelly, float- 
ing-island, beer, porter, punch, wine ! There were many hardships in 
the life of the colonists but seldom did the colonists have to suffer the 
hardship of hunger. 

The colonial home a scene of industry. The home in colonial 
times was a scene of patient and untiring industry. Besides cooking, 

sweeping, washing, ironing, and mending, 
there were done in a home a great many things 
that are now done in factories or shops or 
mills. The farmer raised wool, out of 
which the clothes of his family were made. 
His wife and daughter spun the wool into 

Colonial furniture. ^^^^ . ^^^^ y.^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ j^^^ StOCkingS aud 

mittens, or wove the woolen threads into cloth; and out of the cloth 
they made the clothes which they wore. Thus the farmer who cut 
the wool from the back of his sheep wore the very same wool on his 
own back. 

Spinning and weaving. Spinning and weaving required the 
labor of many hands. Alice Morse Earle draws this pleasing picture 




LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



93 



of a colonial family engaged at the task of spinning and weaving: 
" Often by the bright firelight in the early evening every member of the 
household might be seen at work on the various stages of wool manu- 
facture. The old grandmother at 
light and easy work such as card- 
ing the wool into fleecy rolls. The 
mother spins the rolls into woolen 
yarn at the great wheel. The oldest 
daughter sits at the stick-reel. A lit- 
tle girl at a small wheel is filling quills 
with woolen yarn for the loom. The 
father is setting fresh teeth in a wool- 
card, while the boys are whittling hand-reels and loom-spindles." In 
the colonial household every member of the family had some useful 
task to perform. There was no place for drones. 




The colonial home a scene of industry. 



1. Describe the wildness of colonial times. 

2. Why were the colonists compelled to work hard? 

3. How did the colonists build their homes? 

4. Give an account of colonial cooking, heating and lighting. 

5. Describe the colonial dining-room. 

6. What can you say of the food of the colonists? 

7. How did the colonists provide themselves with clothing? 



LESSON XVI 

LIFE IN THE COLONIES (CONTINUED) 

Do the members of your family help your neighbors in the performance of their 
tasks? Do your neighbors help your family in the performance of its tasks? Where 
is the neighborly spirit strongest, in the country or in the city? Do you know 
many people who do not attend church regularly? What tasks are performed 
on the Sabbath in these days? In what amusements do people indulge themselves 
in these days? How long would it take to travel from Boston to Philadelphia on 
an express-train? How long would it take to travel the same distance on horse- 
back, the horse going at the rate of seven miles an hour? 

The colonists as neighbors. As busy as the members of a 
colonial household were, they were never too busy to help their neigh- 
bors when help was needed. If there was sickness or death, the neigh- 
bors always lent a helping hand. When a farmer fell sick at harvest 
time, others would come and cut his grain and charge him nothing 
for their services. If a family was known to be suffering and lacked 
the necessaries of life, kindly neighbors were quick to send clothing 
and baskets of food. When a housewife made some apple-butter or 
jelly that was unusually good, she sent small portions called " tastes " 
to the people round about. In Pennsylvania every year, when a 
farmer made his sausage-meat, he sent each of his neighbors a great 
dish heaped with eight or ten pounds of it. 

Those who lived in the same settlement often joined their forces 
in a manner that was both profitable and pleasant. When there was a 
wedding in a family, the women of the neighborhood met at the home 
of the bride and joined in the work of preparing the wedding feast. 
If two housewives each wished to make a rag-carpet, one would visit 

94 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



95 




A colonial church. 



the home of the other, and the two would work together until one of 
the carpets was finished. Then the visit would be returned, and the 
second carpet would be made. When a farmer was to build a new 
house or barn, all the strong men in the 
neighborhood turned out to help. The 
frame of one side of the building was fas- 
tened together on the ground, and was 
then lifted into place by forty or fifty men 
and boys pulling on a rope. Sometimes 
the women and girls pulled too, to show 
that they were willing to help as much as 
they could. 

The colonists as church-goers. The colonists were also very 
faithful in attending to their religious duties. At nine o'clock on 
Sunday morning a bell rang, or a horn blew, and called the people to 
worship. In some places a man stood on the roof of the church and 
beat a drum while the people gathered. Everybody, old and young, 
answered the call, for everybody w^as compelled 
to go. Any one who stayed away was liable to be 
punished. Sir Thomas Dale, of Virginia, even 
went so far as to make a law that any one stay- 
ing away from church should be punished by death, 
although the cruel law was never strictly en- 
forced. In new settlements where the Indians were 
still troublesome the men carried guns and swords 
to church as well as their Bibles and hymn-books. All the men and 
boys sat on one side of the church, and all the women and girls on 
the other. 

And a most uncomfortable place the church was ! The seats were 
without cushions, the pews had very high backs and were separated 




They carried their guns 
as well as their Bibles. 



96 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



from each other by a wall so high that the occupants of one pew 
could not see their neighbors in the next. In winter the worshipers 
almost froze, for the church was not heated in any way. Sometimes 
a man would bring his dog to church, and the dog would lie on his 
master's feet and keep them warm. 

But the cold did not interfere with the services, which were very 
long indeed. The sermon lasted two or three hours, and the prayer 
for one or two. It is said that a minister at Woburn, Massachusetts, 
once preached a sermon five hours in length. If any one went to sleep 
during the sermon, he was waked up by the tithing-man. This was 
an officer who moved about the church and kept order. He carried 
a stick, on one end of which was a knob and on the other a fox-tail. 
When a boy laughed or whispered, he was tapped on the head with 

the knob end of the stick; and if any one 
went to sleep, he was tickled in the face 
with the fox-tail. 

The Sabbath in colonial times. Sun- 
day in the colonies was looked upon as a 
holy day, and everybody was expected to 
keep it holy. On Sunday no one was al- 
lowed to fish, or shoot, or work on the 
farm, or indulge in any kind of amusement. 
People were not supposed to be seen on the 
street on Sunday, unless on their way to 
church. Even then they had to walk along with serious and sober 
faces. Once a little boy who was on his way to church with his grand- 
father pointed in delight to a squirrel running across the road and said, 
" O Grandfather, look at the pretty squirrel ! " The old man twisted 
the ear of the little boy, saying sharply, " Squirrels are not to be 
spoken of on Sunday ! " 




A Sabbath breaker sitting in the 
stocks. 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



97 



Any one guilty of breaking the Sabbath was severely punished. 
In New England such a person was often set in the stocks. In 
New York, three boys who broke the Sabbath were confined in a 
cage. In New Haven, the colony which was called the Bible Com- 
monwealth (page 6y), there was a law that any one profaning the Sab- 
bath " proudly and with a high head against the authority of God 
should be punished with death." 




One horse often carried two persons. 

Travel in colonial times. The colonists were a stay-at-home 
people. They could not make long journeys, because the roads were 
so bad. Where they could travel on water, they went from place 
to place in the light and graceful birch-bark canoe which '' floated on 
the river like a yellow leaf in autumn." On land, the settlers at first 
followed the paths or trails which had been made by the Indians. 
The trail was too narrow for a carriage, but it was wide enough 
for a horse. Most of the land travel, therefore, was on horseback. 
One horse often carried two persons. Sometimes four persons would 



98 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

make a journey with only one horse to carry them. Two of the 
travelers would begin the journey on foot. The other two, mounted 
on the horse, would overtake the foot travelers and ride ahead of 
them for some distance. These two riders would dismount, tie the 
horse, and walk on. When the two who had started on foot came 
up to the horse they would mount and ride until they were a mile or 
two ahead of the two who were walking. Then they would tie the 
horse and walk on. Thus both the animal and the feet of the travelers 
had some rest. 

The horse had to carry freight as well as persons, for goods were 
carried from place to place on the backs of pack-horses. Where a 
great quantity of freight was to be moved, many horses, of course, 
were necessary, for a single horse could carry only two or three hun- 
dred pounds. The pack-horses moved along one in front of another 
in single file, and often the train was much longer than the longest 
of our railroad trains. 

1. Describe the neighborly life of the colonists. 

2. In what ways did neighbors join hands and help each other? 

3. What can you say of the colonists as church-goers? 

4. Describe a Sabbath day in colonial times. 

5. What can you say of travel in colonial times? 



LESSON XVII 

CHILD LIFE IN THE COLONIES 

Describe a well-built, comfortable schoolhouse. Are most schoolhouscs in these 
days well-built and comfortable? If you should wish to teach school, how would 
you show that you were prepared for teaching? What are some of the subjects 
taught in the schools now? What are some of the punishments inflicted upon 
school-children in these days? Name some of the children's books that you have 
an opportunity to read if you wisii. What do you understand by " child-labor laws "? 
Name some of the toys with which children amuse themselves and some of the 
games they play. Define fee, crude, catechism, luring. 

In the last two lessons you learned about the kind of life the people 
led in colonial times, but what you learned in those lessons was chiefly 
about grown people. In this you are to learn about the life which the 
children led in the same period. 

Schools and schoolhouses. First let us learn about their educa- 
tion. The colonists were very anxious that their children should be 
educated. " Child," said a New England mother, *' if God make thee 
a good Christian and a good scholar, 't is all thy mother ever asked 
for thee." In almost every colony there were schools of some kind. 
In the northern colonies, especially in New England, there were many 
very good ones. As early as 1647 there was a law in Massachusetts 
that every town of fifty families should have a school where children 
might learn to read and write. But the schools were not free as they 
are to-day; a fee had to be paid for each child. If, however, there 
were children in a town who were too poor to pay the fee, the town 
paid it for them. 

99 




100 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

In the southern colonies schools were few in number. In Virginia 
and in the Carolinas it was sometimes necessary for pupils to travel 
ten miles or more in order to reach a schoolhouse. Sometimes 
several planters would join and employ a teacher, who would teach a 

few months in a tobacco-shed or in some 
iT .^^a. other kind of shabby building. 

But it was not onlv in the South that chil- 
^M dren were taught in shabby buildings. In all 
the colonies schoolhouses were poorly built. 
.n r^-^ — .^:::^K ^-^^^^T ~^ They were nearly always built of logs, and 
"" '^ often had only a dirt floor. Sometimes the 

A colonial schoolhouse. 

dirt of the floor would become dry, and mis- 
chievous pupils would stir up the dust to annoy the teacher and dis- 
turb the school. 

Teachers in colonial times. Teachers in colonial times were not 
much better than the schoolhouses in which they taught. Too often 
the teacher was an idle, drunken fellow, who had very little education 
and was unfit in every way for his task. It was 
not necessary for him to be highly educated, for the 
only subjects taught were reading, writing, and 
arithmetic. They were often pronounced '' readin', 
'ritin', and 'rithmetic," and so were known as the 
three R's. The girls were taught reading and writ- 
ing, but seldom arithmetic. 

The teacher of those days had other duties to per- ^ pllU'^on "aStV^' 
form besides teaching the three R's, however. He 
was expected to act as janitor of the schoolhouse and as sexton of 
the church. He rang the church-bell on Sunday and swept the church 
floor. If he could sing, he was expected to lead in the singing of the 
psalms and hymns. For his many services the teacher received one 




CHILD LIFE IN THE COLONIES loi 

hundred or one hundred and fifty dollars a year. Of course good 
teachers could not be secured when they were paid so little. 

School punishments. One of the schoolmaster's most impor- 
tant duties was to punish the pupils who failed to learn their lessons 
or were guilty of misconduct. This was a duty which the master never 
neglected. He walked among them with a rod, or ferule, or bunch 
of birch twigs in his hand, and, whenever a pupil was caught break- 
ing the rules, he was sure to be flogged and often very cruelly. Flog- 
ging was not the only punishment. A common punishment for idle 
and dull pupils was to make them stand on the dunce-stool and wear 
dunce-caps. 

The catechism and the Bible. Besides learning the three R's, 
every child was compelled to study the catechism and read the Bible. 
In New England children were required by law to learn the '' Shorter 
Catechism," which contained more than one hundred questions and 
answers. One of the duties of the terrible tithing-man (page 96) was 
to visit children in their homes and hear them recite the catechism. 
The book that was read most by the colonial child was the Bible. In- 
deed, few of them read any other, for children's books were very 
scarce. But many read the Bible through three or four times, and 
we are told of one boy who had read it a dozen times before he was 
sixteen years old. 

The tasks of the children. Only a small part of the life of the 
children was spent at school. Most of their time was spent in work- 
ing. There were no child-labor laws then. Children were sometimes 
set to work when they were only five or six years of age. Little girls 
did w^eaving and spinning, or knitted stockings and mittens. On small 
hand looms the older girls wove garters, hat-bands, and belts. The 
little boys were seldom idle, for the colonial boy was taught that idle- 
ness was one of the worst of sins. He rose at daybreak, sawed and 



102 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




Boys spent a great deal of time 
hunting. 



chopped the wood, and brought in the logs for the great fireplace ; he 
cut potatoes for the sheep ; he fed the hogs ; he gave the horses water ; \ 
he picked berries ; he helped to make cider ; he threshed out the grain 
with a flail. 

Boys as hunters. The boys, too, spent a great deal of time in , 
hunting. In these days hunting is looked upon as a sport, but then 

it was a necessary task. Wolves and 
bears and foxes had to be driven from 
the forests in order to protect the cattle 
and sheep ; and to clear the forests of ■ 
wild animals required much hard labor. 
But the boys, armed with guns, no doubt 
enjoyed themselves while they were lur- 
ing wild turkeys into pens, or catching the wolves in traps, or bring- 
ing down the bears with their rifles. They often found profit as well 
as amusement in hunting, for in many places the one who brought 
back from the hunt the greatest number of birds' heads and animals' 
tails was given a prize. 

Toys, games, and sports. Although children worked hard in 
these far-off days, their life was not without its pleasures and joys. 
They had their toys, their games, and their pas- 
times as they do now. But their toys were very 
few. Girls, it is true, had their dolls, as they have 
had them in all ages, but a colonial doll was a 
crude and ugly thing compared with the lovely doll of to-day. The 
boy seldom had any toys at all, except such as he made with his jack- 
knife — if he was fortunate enough to be the owner of one. With a 
jack-knife he could make pop-guns, kites, whistles, windmills, water- 
wheels, bows and arrows, or, if he was very skilful as many boys were, 
he could make a wooden doll for his sister. 




Jack-knives. 



CHILD LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



103 



But if their toys were few, the children knew a great many games, 
indeed, more than they do now. They played hop-scotch, tag, cat's- 
cradle, blindman's-buff, leap-frog, cricket, trap- 
ball, and other games with which young folks 
have been amusing themselves for thousands of 
years. In colonial days boys and girls moved 
around in circles and sang, ** Here we go round the 
mulberry bush " and " Ring around a rosy," just as 
boys and girls do to-day. ,, , . , , , 

•^ ° -' Colonial skates. 

1. Describe the kind of schoolhoiises in which colonial children were taught. 

2. What can you say of the colonial teacher? What subjects did he teach? 

3. What were some of the punishments inflicted upon colonial children? 

4. Tell about the study of the catechism and the reading of the Bible in colonial 
times. 

5. What were some of the tasks of girls in colonial times? What were some of 
the tasks of boys? 

6. What can you say of the colonial boy as a hunter? 

7. Name some of the toys and some of the games and amusements in colonial 
days. 




LESSON XVIII 

MARQUETTE AND LA SALLE 

Name the chief rivers of the Mississippi Valley. What States are in the Missis- 
sippi Valley? What is a missionary? Can you go in a boat from Quebec to 
New Orleans by following the water-courses of the Mississippi Valley? During 
what years was Louis XIV the King of France ? Locate Mackinac, Peoria, Natchez, 
New Orleans. 

You have learned that by 1750 the English settlers had worked their 
way westward as far as the Alleghany Mountains. When they came 
to these mountains, they wished, of course, to cross them and make 
settlements on the other side, in the Mississippi Valley. But by 1750 
this great valley was a possession of France. In this lesson you are 
to learn how the French gained possession of the Mississippi Valley. 

The French enter the Mississippi Valley. You remember that 
under the leadership of Champlain the French began to make settle- 
ments in Canada about the same time that the English settled at James- 
town (page 47). But they were not satisfied with Canada, for it was a 
bleak and barren land. Its soil was poor and was covered with snow 
for half the year. So the French soon began to push their way west- 
ward and southward into the Mississippi Valley, where the climate was 
warm and there were millions of acres of excellent land. 

The Jesuits. The men who led the French into the w^estern 
country were missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church, and most 
of them were Jesuits; that is, they were members of the Society of 
Jesus. The purpose of these Jesuits was to convert the Indians to the 
Christian religion. The Jesuits were highly educated men, and some 

104 



MARQUETTE AND LA SALLE 105 

of them belonged to noble families. Yet, in order to carry the Gospel 
to the Indians, they left their beautiful France, with its enjoyments 
and comforts, and plunged into the great forests of America, where 
they suffered all the hardships of savage life. They lived with the 
savages, ate with them, hunted with them, and often followed them in 
their wars. In this way they were able to reach the hearts of the 
Indians and win them to the Christian faith. 

The remarkable journey of James Marquette and Louis Joliet. 
Among the Jesuits who pushed their way out into the western coun- 
try was Father James Marquette. Marquette, in 
company w'ith Louis Joliet, started from Mackinac, 
Michigan, upon a journey of exploration which led 
to the discovery of the Mississippi River. We will 
let Marquette tell us of this wonderful voyage in his 
own words : " I embarked with Joliet and five 
other Frenchmen in two bark canoes. Our food was 
some Indian corn and smoked bacon. We drew a ^'''''' Marquette. 
map of the country through which we passed. We embarked upon 
the Wisconsin River. The country through which this river flows is 
beautiful. The groves are full of walnut, oak, and other trees un- 
known to us in Europe. We saw roebuck [deer] and buffaloes in 
great number. 

" After having roamed 120 miles from the place where we started 
we came unto the Mississippi River the 17th of June, 1673. Behold 
us then upon this celebrated river! As we drifted down the river, we 
met from time to time monster fish which struck so violently against 
our canoes that they almost upset us. We saw also a hideous monster 
whose head was like that of a tiger and whose nose was like that of a 
wild-cat. When we threw our net out Into the water we caught an 
abundance of fish. 




io6 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

" We continued to drift down the river, not knowing where we were 
going. We went three hundred miles without seeing a human being 
— ■ nothing but wild beasts and birds. At night we landed, made a 
fire and cooked our supper. As we went down the river, we saw high 
rocks with hideous monsters painted upon them. They are as large 
as a calf, and have a head and horns like a goat, beard like a tiger, and 
a face like a man. 

*' As we were going down the river talking of these monsters, we 
heard a great rushing and bubbling of water and saw small islands 

of floating trees coming from the mouth 
of the Missouri River. The water of the 
river is so muddy that we could not drink 
it. We judged that the Mississippi flowed 
into the Gulf of Mexico. We would have 
liked it better, how^ever, if it had flowed 
into the South Sea [Pacific Ocean] or into 

Marquette on the Mississippi. thc Gulf of California. 

'' Having satisfied ourselves that we could reach the Gulf of Mexico 
in three or four days, we returned home, for we did not want to fall 
into the hands of the Spaniards and be sold into slavery. So, having 
followed the Mississippi for nearly five hundred miles, and having 
preached the gospel to the Indians, we turned our course at the mouth 
of the Arkansas and went back up the river. We ascended the Missis- 
sippi with great difficulty, for the current bore strong against us. 
When we reached the Illinois River, we entered the stream and 
followed it to Lake Michigan." 

La Salle takes possession of the Mississippi Valley in the name 
of France. Marquette and his followers were the pathfinders who 
showed other Frenchmen the way into the Mississippi Valley. 
Among the explorers who followed Marquette the greatest was Robert 




MARQUETTE AND LA SALLE 



167 




Robert La Salle. 



La Salle. This brave and daring Frenchman wanted 
his country's flag to float over the Mississippi Valley, 
and he was willing to go out into the wilderness and 
plant the flag in new places. Even before Marquette 
discovered the Mississippi La Salle had plunged into 
the wild country south of Lake Erie and had found 
his way to the banks of the Ohio River. In 1680 he 
built a fort on the Illinois River near the place where 
the city of Peoria now stands. 

In 1682 La Salle and a party of twenty-three white men with a 
few friendly Indians embarked in canoes at the mouth of the Illinois 
River and started on a voyage down the Mississippi. When he came 
to the mouth of the Arkansas, the point where Marquette turned 

back, he raised the cross and took 
possession of the country in the name 
of his king, Louis XIV of France. 
'He did not turn back as Marquette 
had done, but continued on down the 
river and explored the Mississippi to 
its mouth. Here on a hill that rose 
from one of the banks of the stream 
l^^fetJSiBi^^^y^'V'^li ^^ Salle, with his companions gath- 

I ^MiPMilMk/ L.Ti k\ gred around him in a circle, made a 

speech in which he took possession of 
the Mississippi Valley in the name of 
Louis XIV and called it Louisiana 
in honor of his king. Although La 
Salle's voice was heard only a few 
rods from where he stood, he yet 
La Salle taking pos^^^ssion of the Mississippi claimed for his bclovcd France " the 




io8 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



vast basin of the Mississippi from its frozen northern springs to the 
sultry borders of the Gulf; from the wooded ridges of the Alle- 
ghanies to the bare peaks of the Rocky Mountains." 

What La Salle did for France. La Salle wished to make French 
settlements and build up the French power in Louisiana, but his 
plans were brought to an end by his death. In 1687 he was cruelly 
murdered by the hand of one of his own men. He died while he 
was still a young man, but he did much for his country and for the 
world. He discovered the Ohio River; he established the French 
power in the Illinois country; he led the first party of white men 
from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico; he gave Louisiana to France. 

The French settlements and forts in the Mississippi Valley. 
Although La Salle died before any French settlements were made in 
Louisiana, the work was taken up by those who came after him. 
In 17 16 a Frenchman named Bienville planted a colony on the 
Mississippi River at the place where the city of Natchez now stands. 
This was the oldest settlement in the Mississippi 
Valley south of Illinois. Two years after Natchez 
was founded, streets were laid out for the town of 
New Orleans. 

Besides building towns, the French built forts at 
important points throughout the valley — on the 
Mississippi, on the Illinois, on the Wabash, and on 
the Great Lakes. Between New Orleans and Mon- 
Frenchmen burying the trcal thcrc was 3. loug liuc of morc than sixty forts 

leaden plates. 

over which waved the French flag. The French 
also at many places buried in the beds of streams leaden plates upon 
which were engraved words claiming the stream and country round 
about for France. 

In 1749 an officer of the French army, named Celeron, went 



i 




MARQUETTE AND LA SALLE 109 

through the Ohio Valley and took possession of the country by bury- 
ing plates bearing these words : " We have placed this plate here 
to show that we have established our power in the country which is 
claimed by us on the Ohio River and on its tributaries to its source." 
Thus by 1750 the French felt that they were the lawful owners not 
only of the Ohio Valley, but of the entire valley of the Mississippi. 

1. Why did the French want to make settlements in the Mississippi Valley? 

2. Who were the Jesuits, and what did they wish to do in America? 

3. Give an account of the journey of Marquette and Joliet. 

4. Tell how La Salle took possession of the Mississippi Valley. 

5. What things did La Salle do for France? 

6. What settlements did the French make in the Mississippi Valley? 



LESSON XIX 

THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH 

What do you understand by a " border line " ? Where is Schenectady? Where is 
Deerfield? Describe the Ohio Valley? What States and parts of States are sit- 
uated in the Ohio Valley? Locate Pope's Creek, Northumberland County, Virginia. 
What is a surveyor? What is an adjutant-general? Locate Pittsburgh. 

In the last lesson you learned how La Salle and other Frenchmen 
went into the Mississippi Valley and took possession of it in the name 
of France. But the English claimed that this great valley belonged 
to them, because it was a part of the continent which had been dis- 
covered by Cabot (p. 23). Here were two great nations, France 
and England, claiming the same territory. Since the valley could not 
have two owners, the two nations began to quarrel with each other 
about its possession. In this lesson we are to learn how this quarrel 
between France and England arose. 

Warfare along the border line. Trouble between the French 
and the English in America began soon after La Salle took possession 
of Louisiana. In 1689 war broke out in Europe between England 
and France, and for many years there was strife between these two 
countries. The war spread to America, and soon the colonists of 
the two nations began to fight with each other. Much of the fight- 
ing was done in New York and New England along the border which 
separated the English and French settlements. In this border war- 
fare the Indians of Canada fought on the side of the French, while 

no 



THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH in 

the Iroquois Indians of New York fought on the side of the English. 
During the long years of strife on the border there were no great 
battles fought by large armies, but many outrages were committed, 
many innocent people were killed, and many defenseless settlements 
were burned. 

In 1690, in the dead of winter, about a hundred Frenchmen and 
Indians came down from Canada and attacked the town of Schenec- 
tady, New York. About midnight, when everybody was asleep, the 
Indians raised the war-whoop and the work of destruction began. 
The houses were set on fire, and men, women, and children who were 
not burned to death were shot as they ran out of their houses. 
xAbout sixty persons were killed and about a hundred captured. A 
few of the inhabitants escaped and made their way through the snow 
to Albany. 

The story of Hannah Dustin. In the history of the border war- 
fare between the French and the English we are told of many heroic 
deeds. One of the most thrilling stories is that of Hannah Dustin, 
the wife of a farmer. This brave woman, her infant, her nurse Mary 
Neff, and a small boy were captured by the Indians and carried away 
from her home, which had been set on fire. They had not gone far 
before the babe was killed by an Indian who snatched it from its 
mother's arms. The other three were told that they would be car- 
ried far into the wilderness, kept as prisoners for several months, 
and then put to death by torture. But the captives planned to escape. 
The boy learned from one of the savages how to strike a blow with 
a tomahawk in such a way as to produce instant death, and he, in 
turn, taught the two women. So the three agreed that they would 
kill their Indian masters, of whom there were twelve — ten warriors, 
a squaw, and a child. One night, when the Indians were all sound 
asleep by the camp-fire, Mrs. Dustin, Mary Neff, and the boy arose 




112 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

without making any noise and armed themselves with tomahawks. 

With swift and well aimed blows they killed ten of the sleepers. 

The squaw and the child were stunned, 
but were not killed. The three captives 
then made their way in safety to the 
nearest white settlement. 

The French forts. The cruel war 

along the New England border came to 

an end in 1748, for in that year peace 

^ „ ^ ^, was made between Eng^land and France, 

With swift and well-armed blows *=* 

they killed ten of the sleepers. 1^^^^ ^^^j. g^^j^ ]^^.^^^ ^^^^ jj^ aUOthcr plaCC. 

In a few years the French and English in America began to 
fight for the possession of the country west of the Alleghanies. The 
trouble started iii 1750 when settlers from Virginia crossed over the 
mountains and made their homes in the Ohio Valley in places where the 
French had buried the leaden plates (p. 109). This movement of the 
English stirred the French to action. They at once began to build 
a chain of forts along the western border of Pennsylvania, manning | 
them with French soldiers and Indians, who were given orders to 
drive back any English colonists who undertook to enter the Ohio 
Valley. 

George Washington. The building of the forts greatly excited 
the people of Virginia. In 1753 Dinwiddle, the governor of the 
colony, sent a message to the commander of one of the forts inform- 
ing him that the French were on land that belonged to England and 
forbidding him to fortify it any more. The bearer of the message 
was a young man of whom we shall hear a great deal in this lesson 
and in many lessons to follow : it was George Washington. 

This hero of American history was born on the 22nd of February, 
1732. His birthplace was Pope's Creek, Northumberland County, 



THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH 113 

Virginia. When George was eleven years of age his father died, 
leaving a widow and five children. George was soon taken from 
school, where he had been taught to read and write and to work 
examples in arithmetic. Before long he learned the art of surveying, 
or measuring, land. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and surveying 
were about the only subjects he ever studied. But he studied these 
few subjects well. His copy-books show us that he took pains to 
write clearly and neatly. On one of his note-books he wrote down 




A page from Washington's notebook showing his first lesson in surveying. 

the rules of conduct which he felt that he himself ought to obey. 
Here are a few of them : 

1. Every action in company ought to be with some sign of respect 
to those present. 

2. In the presence of others sing not to yourself with a humming 
noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet. 

3. Be no flatterer. 

4. Read no letters, books, or papers in company. 



114 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



5. Show not yourself glad at the misfortunes of another, though 
he were your enemy. 

6. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial 
fire called Conscience. 

Washington begins his career as a soldier. In his boyhood 
Washington lived on a plantation where he became accustomed to 
outdoor life. He was a good shot with a rifle, and he was fond of 
hunting. He was tall, and his body was well knit and strong. He 
could outswim, outrun, and outride any of his companions. As a 
little child he liked to play soldier, and, as soon as he was old 
enough, he learned how to fence and to use a sword. At the age of 
nineteen he began his career as a real soldier, for in 1751 he was 
appointed adjutant-general and was given the title of major. The 
first important service of Major Washington was to bear the mes- 
sage of Dinwiddle to the commander of the fort in the far-off wilder- 
ness of western Pennsylvania. 

A journey full of danger. When Washington reached the fort, 

he was received politely by the com- 
mander and was given a letter, which 
was a reply to the message sent by Din- 
widdle. With this letter in his pocket 
he made his way back to Virginia. His 
journey homeward carried him over 
rugged mountains and ice-bound rivers 
and through hundreds of miles of 
gloomy forests. Twice he nearly lost 
his life: once when he was shot at by an Indian, who fired when 
he was only a few feet away ; and once when he fell overboard from 
a raft into the foaming waters of the Allegheny River. But his 
life was saved for a great work which lay before him. 




He was shot at by an Indian. 



THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH 115 

The French build a fort at the Forks of the Ohio. In January, 
1754, Washington delivered to Dinwiddie the reply of the French 
commander, which was that the French would go on building as many 
forts as they pleased ; and there was a hint in the reply that Governor 
Dinwiddie had better attend to his own business and let the French 
alone. Of course this reply meant that if the English were to be 
the real owners of the Ohio Valley, they would have to fight for it. 
So Dinwiddie prepared for a fight. He promptly sent Washington 
with a few hundred men to the Forks of the Ohio — the junction of 
the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers — where another company of 
Virginians were at work building a log fort. But, before Wash- 
ington could reach the Forks, the French had attacked the Vir- 
ginians there and had driven them away. The victors finished the 
fort which had been begun by their enemies and called it Fort 
Duquesne. On the site of it the city of Pittsburgh now stands. 
Finding the fort lost, Washington and his men returned to Virginia. 

Washington's first battle. Before they reached home, how- 
ever, they had met the French in battle and had done some hard 
fighting. In July, 1754, Washington was attacked by about a thou- 
sand French and Indians at a place called Great Meadows. The 
Virginians numbered only about three hundred men, but they de- 
fended themselves bravely. From ten o'clock in the morning until 
dark Washington held the enemy at bay. But the force against 
him was too strong; he was compelled to yield. But the surrender 
was made on honorable terms. The soldiers kept their arms and 
marched away with drums beating and colors flying. Neverthe- 
less, the battle at Great Meadows was a defeat for the Virginians. 
This was the first time Washington surrendered, and we shall see 
that it was the last. 

The battle of Great Meadows was important because it was the 



ii6 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

first battle in a war known as the French and Indian War. It was 
called the French and Indian War because in this struggle the Indians 
generally fought on the side of the French. An account of this con- 
flict will be given in the next lesson. 

1. Describe the warfare which was carried on along the border between the 
French and English. 

2. Tell the story of Hannah Dustin. 

3. Tell about the building of the French forts. 

4. Sketch the early life of George Washington, and describe him as he was when 
he was a youth. 

5. What message did Washington carry to the French and what reply did 
he bring back? 

6. Describe the journey back to Virginia. 

7. What happened at the Forks of the Ohio? 

8. Give an account of the first battle in which Washington fought. 



LESSON XX 

THE FRENCH ARE DRIVEN OUT OF AMERICA 

What does the word union mean? What are local afifairs? Define independence. 
What is a treaty? Locate Alexandria, Virginia; Niagara, New York; Cape Breton 
Island. 

The lack of union among the colonies. The defeat of Wash- 
ington at Great Meadows alarmed not only Virginia, but the other 
colonies as well, for the quarrel of Virginia was the quarrel of all; 
every English colonist wished that the French might be driven out 
of the Ohio Valley. It would have been easy to drive them out if 
the colonies had joined their forces and helped each other, for there 
were more than ten times as many Englishmen in America as there 
were Frenchmen. But each colony was independent of its neighbors 
and cared very little for them. It was willing to fight its own bat- 
tles, but not to help the others in fighting theirs. Yet it was plain 
that some sort of union among them was necessary. If the English 
were to be the masters in America, their colonies must join their 
forces and throw their whole strength against the French, 

Benjamin Franklin. Among those who believed that the colo- 
nies ought to be united was Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania. 
Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. His father was a candle- 
maker and soap-boiler. As a boy, Benjamin was not very indus- 
trious. We are told that when swimming he would lie on his back 
and have himself drawn along in the water by a kite which he 
invented and which served as a kind of sail. But he grew up to 

117 



ii8 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




Benjamin Franklin. 



be a very industrious man. Indeed, few 
men ever worked harder or employed their 
time better. 

Benjamin helped to make candles and 
soap until he was thirteen years of age. 
Then he learned the printer's trade. He 
was very fond o-f books and would often 
spend most of a night in reading. 

At the age of seventeen Benjamin left 
Boston and went to Philadelphia. When 
he reached that city, he had very little 
money in his pocket. He bought three rolls 
of bread, and sticking one roll under each arm, he ate the third as he 
walked along the street. As he passed a house on Market Street, a 
young girl in a doorway looked at him and laughed. No wonder she 
laughed, for Franklin himself says he made '' a most awkward and 
ridiculous appearance." But Deborah Read, the girl in the doorway, 
never forgot the awkward young stranger who ate his breakfast as 
he walked along the street, and in 
after years she became his wife. 

In Philadelphia Franklin found em- 
ployment as a printer, and soon he 
was the owner of a newspaper. He 
always took an active part in public 
affairs, and in time became one of the 
best-known men in America. 

Franklin draws up a plan for 
uniting the colonies. In 1754 
Franklin drew up a plan for uniting 
the colonists under a single govern- 




.^e^^ 
%"-^ 



Young Franklin and Deborah Read. 



THE FRENCH ARE DRIVEN OUT OF AMERICA 



119 



ment. Under his plan each colony was to manage its own local 
affairs, but those matters that concerned all the colonies were to be 
managed by a general government. But the colonies were so jealous 
of each other, and they loved their independence so much, that they 
would not adopt Franklin's plan. If it had been adopted, troops from 
all the colonies would have been sent against the French and they would 
have been quickly defeated. 

The four things which the English wished to do. When Gover- 
nor Dinwiddie found that Virginia would have to fight the French 
by herself, he called upon England for aid. 
England was quite willing to help him, for 
she did not wish to see the French hold the 
Ohio country. So in 1755 she sent General 
Braddock and about a thousand well-trained 
English soldiers to assist the Virginians. 

Braddock landed his troops at Alexan- 
dria, Virginia, where he met Washington 
and Franklin and other leading men. They 
held a conference at which it was decided 
that four things must be done: first, the 
French must be driven from Fort Duquesne, 
so that the English might be free to enter the Ohio Valley; second, 
Louisburg, a great French fortress on Cape Breton Island, must be 
taken, in order that the English might be masters of the sea-coast; 
third, the French fort at Niagara must be captured, thus securing 
control of the water routes between Canada and the Mississippi Val- 
ley; fourth, the city of Quebec must be taken. Braddock and the 
other leaders believed that, if these four things were done, the French 
would be so badly crippled that they would give the English no further 
trouble. 




The French Forts and Brad- 
dock's campaign. 



120 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Braddock's defeat. In June, 1755, Braddock left Alexandria 
and marched against Fort Duquesne. With him went Washington, 
who was made a member of Braddock's staff. The army had to 
make its way over high mountains and through woods where there 
were no roads, and it had to cross rivers over which there were no 
bridges. So its progress was very slow. 

When Braddock had reached a point about eight miles from Fort 




Braddock's Defeat. 



Duquesne, suddenly an Indian war-whoop rang out, so loud that it 
seemed to come from a thousand throats, and all at once hundreds 
of Frenchmen and Indians were seen running hither and thither 
among the trees. The French and Indians quickly took their places 
behind rocks and trees and opened fire upon the English. The Eng- 
lish returned the fire, but their bullets did little else than break the 
bark of the trees. 

Braddock did not know how to fight in a forest. Instead of 
letting his men fight from behind trees he held them drawn up in 



THE FRENCH ARE DRIVEN OUT OF AMERICA 121 

regular ranks, where they were exposed to the enemy's fire. The 
result was that they went down like grass before a scythe. Brad- 
dock was brave, and he fought like a lion. Four horses were killed 
under him. While mounted on the fifth, he was shot through the 
lungs and wounded so severely that he "could no longer direct the 
battle. 

Washington was in the thick of the fight. Four bullets passed 
through his clothing, and two of the horses he rode were shot. 
After Braddock was wounded, Washington took charge of the troops 
and led them out of the deadly trap into which they had fallen. 
Three days later poor Braddock died and was buried in the forest, 
Washington reading the funeral service. The battle is known as 
Braddock's defeat. And an awful defeat it was! Nearly eight 
hundred of his little army were either killed or wounded. After this 
disaster the English withdrew and left Fort Duquesne in the hands 
of the French. 

The capture of Louisburg and Fort Duquesne. But it did not 
remain there long. The English were determined to do the four 
things they had set out to do, and they kept on fighting. For two 
or three years they met with losses, but in 1758 they began to win vic- 
tories. In that year they captured the great fortress at Louisburg. 
They also sent another army against Fort Duquesne. This army, 
when it reached the fort, was under the command of Washington, 
who now held the rank of colonel. But Colonel Washington did 
not have to give battle, for, on the day before he arrived, the French 
had set fire to the fort and its surrounding buildings and marched 
away. When Washington came up with his troops there was only 
a heap of smoking ruins, but he raised the English flag over them, 
and at once built a new fort, which was named Fort Pitt. Thus, in 
1758, the English did two of the four things which they had planned 



122 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



to do: they captured Louisburg, and they drove the French out of 
Fort Duquesne. 

The capture of Niagara and Quebec. The next year the EngHsh 
finished their work. In July, 1759, Sir WilHam Johnson, with the aid 
of some Iroquois Indians, marched against Fort Niagara and captured 




Scene of the French and Indian War. 

it. There was now only one more thing to be done — Quebec was 
to be taken. The last task was the most difficult of all, for Quebec 
stood on a rock nearly two hundred feet high and so steep that it 
seemed almost impossible for soldiers to scale it and take the city. 
Yet the English were equal to the task. One night in September, 



THE FRENCH ARE DRIVEN OUT OF AMERICA 



123 



1759, the brave General Wolfe, at the head of an army climbed up 
the rocks, and before daylight he had five thousand men ready for 
battle, in front of Quebec, on a level piece of ground known as the 
Plains of Abraham. The English were met by a French army under 
General Montcalm, an officer as brave as Wolfe himself. The two 
armies fought with all their might, but in the end the English won 
and Quebec was taken. 

End of the war and the treaty between France and England. 
With the capture of Quebec the English had accomplished all 
they had planned to do, and were 
masters not only of the Ohio Val- 
ley, but of Canada also. Soon 
after the fall of Quebec the French 
and Indian War came to an end. 
In 1763 a treaty between France 
and England was made at Paris. 
In this treaty France agreed to 
give up every foot of land she had 

in America except two little islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. All 
the country west of the Mississippi River was given to Spain. Thus 
the war which Washington began at Great Meadows resulted at last 
in driving the French entirely out of America. 

1. What can you say of the lack of union among the colonies? 

2. Tell the story of the early life of Benjamin Franklin. 

3. What was Franklin's plan for uniting the colonies? 

4. What were the four things which England wished to do in order to defeat 
the French? 

5. Tell the story of Braddock's defeat. 

6. Give an account of the capture of Louisburg and Fort Duquesne. 

7. Tell the story of Niagara and Quebec, 

8. What can you say of the treaty which England made with France in 1763? 




Quebec. 



LESSON XXI 



OVER THE mountains: DANIEL BOONE 



What is a conspiracy? Define the word pioneer. Describe the Yadkin River. 
Where is the Cumberland Gap ? Describe the CHnch River. Describe the Kentucky 
River. Can you find Harrodsburg on the map of Kentucky? Describe the Watauga ' 
River, Define courage ; self-reHant ; hardy. 

Pontiac's conspiracy. After the French and Indian war was 
over, the EngHsh colonists could cross the AUeghanies and make 
their settlements in the Mississippi Valley without any fear of being 

disturbed by the French. But there 
were still many Indians in the valley. 
The red men did not want the English- 
men to settle among them, for they 
knew that they would drive them from 
their hunting-grounds. So in 1763 the 
Indians in the Ohio Valley entered into 
a plot, or conspiracy, to drive every Eng- 
lishman out of their country. 

The leader was a brave and bold 
chieftain named Pontiac. He went out 
into the forest, and for two years lived 
all alone, thinking over a way to strike 
a deadly blow at the English. His plan was this : at a certain change 
of the moon in the month of May, 1763,- Indians in all parts of the 
western country were to rise up against the English and kill everybody 

124 




Pontiac brooding over his plans to drive 
out the white man. 



OVER THE MOUNTAINS. DANIEL BOONE 



125 



who was nearest at hand. No one was to be spared; men, women, 
and children, all were to be slaughtered. 

When the day came for striking the blow, many of the whites 
saved themselves, for they had heard of the plot and were on their 
guard. But hundreds of families who had moved out into the Ohio 
Valley were murdered, and hundreds of their homes were burned. 
Nearly every fort held by the English in the valley was attacked by the 
red men, and only Fort Pitt and Fort Detroit were able to save them- 
selves from destruction. Pontiac 
even threatened to march eastward 
over the Alleghanies and attack the 
colonies themselves. But he was 
not allowed to do this, for in 1764 
a strong force was sent against him, 
and he was defeated. 

Daniel Boone. After the defeat 
of Pontiac pioneers pushed out into 
the western country in greater num- 
bers than ever before. The leader 
of these pioneers was Daniel Boone. 
Boone was born in Pennsylvania in 
1735- When he was seventeen, he 
moved with his parents to North 
Carolina. His new home was on 
the Yadkin River, where there were mountains and great forests all 
around him. Boone was happy in his forest home, for he was very 
fond of hunting. Many a day and many a night, too, did he hunt 
the deer that ran through the great wilds. Sometimes his hunting- 
trips would last for several weeks and carry him a hundred miles 
away from home. 




Daniel Boone. 



126 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

There is a story that one night, when he was out hunting by the 
light of a torch, he saw in the bushes a pair of shining bright eyes. 
He thought they were those of a deer, for the eyes of a deer shine 
very bright at night. He raised his rifle and took aim, but, before 
he fired, he discovered that the eyes at which he was about to 
shoot belonged not to a deer, but to a young woman named Rebecca 
Bryan. Whether this story is true or not, it is certain that Boone 
married Rebecca Bryan. 

Boone's trip to Kentucky. In 1769 Boone left his wife and chil- 
dren behind him and with five companions started on a trip to the 
far-off land of Kentucky. Each man was mounted on a good horse 
and was armed with rifle, tomahawk, and hunting-knife. After a 
journey of five weeks Boone and his men came to a high place in a 
mountain from which they could see a vast tract of land spread out 
before them. As Boone's eyes swept over the landscape, he saw 
hills and valleys, forests, rivers, and creeks, and great herds of buffalo 
and deer. He was astonished and delighted, and well he may have 
been, for the broad country which lay before him was the beautiful 
blue-grass region of Kentucky. 

Boone liked the Kentucky country so well that he decided to make 
it his home. In 1773 he said good-by to his friends and neighbors 
in the Yadkin settlement, and with his wife and six children started 
on the long and dangerous journey over the mountains. Before the 
Boones had gone far, they were joined by about forty other persons. 
They carried some household goods on pack-horses, and drove ahead 
of them a few cattle. At night they camped in the open forest, 
sheltered only by bed-canvas stretched between upright poles. When 
the weather was good, the journey was pleasant enough ; but when 
the storms came, the travelers suffered great hardships. 

About the time that Boone and his company reached an opening 



OVER THE MOUNTAINS. DANIEL BOONE 



127 



in the mountains called the Cumberland Gap, an awful calamity over- 
took them. One night, seven of the party, while asleep, were at- 
tacked by the Indians and killed. One of the slain was Boone's 
eldest son, a fine lad of seventeen. After this terrible disaster most 
of the company were afraid to go farther. Boone wished to go on, 
and he begged his companions to continue the journey. But their 
fears were too strong. They turned and went back to a settlement 
on the Clinch River, in Virginia, where the Indians could not harm 
them. So Boone's first attempt to make a settlement in Kentucky 
failed. 




Boonesborough. 

The first settlement in Kentucky. By this time, other pioneers 
besides Boone were pushing out into the Kentucky country. In 1774 
James Harrod and fifty settlers from Virginia floated down the 
Ohio River in flat-boats to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and 
then ascended that river until they came to the place where the present 
town of Harrodsburg stands. Here they built log-cabins and began 
a settlement which they called Harrodstown. This was the first per- 
manent settlement made in Kentucky. 



128 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Boone did not lose courage because of his failure in 1773. His 
heart still yearned for the beautiful blue-grass country, and he was 
determined to go there and live. With two or three other pioneers 
he made his way out to the Kentucky River, and on the banks of 
that stream built a fort which he called Boonesborough. In 1775 he 
brought his family to the fort, and here he settled down and lived. 
So the restless pioneer gained at last what he had wished for so 
long — a home in Kentucky. Boone has the honor of being the 
founder of Kentucky. It is true Harrod made the first settlement, 
but it was Boone who first led the way into the far-off Kentucky 
country. 

The beginning of Tennessee. At the time Boone and his 
settlers were pushing over the mountains into Kentucky, pioneers 
from Virginia and North Carolina were beginning to move into the 
Tennessee country. About 1772 James Robertson and John Sevier, 
with a company of friends, settled on the banks of a little river known 
as the Watauga. Other pioneers joined them, and in a short time the 
settlement had a population of several hundred people. This was 
the beginning of the State of Tennessee. Thus, within a few years 
after the French were driven out of the Mississippi Valley, pioneers 
from the English colonies had forced their way over the mountains 
and begun the settlements which in time grew to be two great States 
— Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Life in the backwoods. The pioneers who went out over the 
mountains and began the settlement of the western country lived the 
life of the backwoods in a world by themselves. They had little to 
do with the older colonies, because there were no roads which led 
to the seaboard. They were forced to depend upon themselves for 
almost everything they needed. Most of the articles in daily use 
were made by their own hands. The settler's cabin was of un- 




OVER THE MOUNTAINS. DANIEL BOONE 129 

hewn logs; his table was a great clapboard set on four wooden legs; 

for seats, there were only 

three-legged stools. The hides 

of animals were used as the 

covering of his bed, and much 

of his clothing was made of 

skins. 

The life of the backwoods- 
man was indeed very simple, 
and it was also full of danger. 

/T^i ,1 T 1' 1 Inside the cabin of the backwoodsman. 

there were the Indians, who 

were always lurking around the settlements, and there were the wild 
beasts — panthers which crouched in the trees, and bears and wolves 
which roamed about in the woods. But this wild life was good in 
many ways for these pioneers. It made them self-reliant and hardy, 
bold and brave. We shall see that some of our greatest men spent 
their early days in the far-off backwoods country of Kentucky and 
Tennessee. 

1. Tell the story of Pontiac's conspiracy. 

2. Sketch the early life of Daniel Boone. 

3. Give an account of Boone's trip to Kentucky and of his first attempt to make 
a settlement there. 

4. When, where, and by whom was the first settlement in Kentucky made? 

5. When and where did Boone make a settlement in Kentucky? 

6. What was the early history of Tennessee? 

7. What can you say of life in the backwoods ? 



LESSON XXII 

ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES QUARREL. SAMUEL ADAMS 

What is a parliament? What is a representative? What is a tax? What is 
meant by " repealing a law " ? What is a legislature ? Define representation ; 
taxation; defiance; document; deeds; receipts; almanac; patriot. What is a pound 
sterling ? 

England decides to tax the colonies. At the time Boone and 
Robertson were building the first cabins in the far-off wilds of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, the colonists along the seaboard were engaged 
in a very bitter quarrel with England. The quarrel arose over a 
question of taxation. You remember that in the French and Indian 
War England sent soldiers to America and helped the colonists to 
defeat the French. To do this cost a great deal of money, and 
much of the money was paid out of the pockets of the English people. 
After the war was over, the English government decided that in 
future the money that was necessary for governing the colonies and 
protecting them would have to be paid by the colonists themselves. 
That is to say, England decided that she would tax the colonies in 
order to get money to meet their expenses. 

Parliament passes the Stamp Act. England took the first step 
in her plans for taxing the colonies in 1765. In that year, Parlia- 
ment passed a law known as the Stamp Act. This law provided that 
the colonists should place stamps on certain documents such as bonds, 
deeds, promissory notes, receipts, and the like. It also provided that 
stamps should be placed on playing-cards, books (except those used 

130 



ENGLAND AND COLONIES QUARREL. SAMUEL ADAMS 131 




The colonists were 
required to buy 
stamps. 



in schools), newspapers, almanacs, and some other articles. The 

price of the stamps was in some cases as low as a penny (two cents), 

and in some cases as high as ten pounds sterling (fifty 

dollars). The stamps were to be sold by officers of the 

English government. If any person who was required 

by the law to buy the stamps and use them refused to 

do so such person was to be arrested and punished. 

" No taxation without representation." When 
the colonists heard that Parliament had passed the 
Stamp Act they became very angry. They did not want Parliament 
to tax them, for they felt it had no right. The only taxes the colo- 
nists had ever paid were those that they themselves had agreed to pay, 
or that had been imposed by the legislatures of the different colonies. 
They were willing to pay these taxes because they were represented 
in the legislatures by men whom they themselves had elected. But 
in the English Parliament they had no representatives, and they w^ere 

unwilling to be taxed by a law- 
making body in which they were 
not represented. So when Par- 
liament passed the Stamp Act, 
the cry '' no taxation without 
representation '' was soon heard 
far and wide. 

The colonists refuse to buy 
the stamps. In every colony 
there was bitter opposition to 
the Stamp Act. In Virginia, 
the great orator Patrick Henry 
made a speech before the legislature and persuaded that body to pass 
a resolution which declared that the people of Virginia need not pay 




Patrick Henry made a great speech. 



132 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

any tax that was not ordered to be paid by their chosen representa- 
tives. In Boston the people showed their opposition to the Stamp 
Act in a very ugly fashion. A mob of men tore down tHe little house 
which was to be used as a stamp-office, and entered the home of the 
officer and broke up his furniture. 

The Stamp Act was to go into effect on the first day of November, 
1765. But before that date the colonists had made up their minds 
not to pay the tax. When the first of November arrived, the people 
in all the colonies refused to buy the stamps. The opposition to the 
stamp tax was so strong that England decided that it was of no 
use to try to enforce it. In 1776 Parliament repealed the hateful 
law. So the colonists after all were not compelled to buy the 
stamps. 

The Paint, Glass, and Paper Act. But England still claimed 
that she had the right to tax the colonies, and she did not give up her 

plans for taxing them. In 1767 — the very 
next year after the repeal of the Stamp Act 
— Parliament passed a law that when paint, 
glass, paper, or tea was brought into the 
colonies from abroad, the merchant bring- 
ing the article in should pay a tax on it. 
The Paint, Glass and Paper Act — as the 
law was called — was as hateful to the colo- 
nists as the Stamp Act had been, and was 
opposed by them as bitterly. 
^ tlHwl^^^ Samuel Adams. A great champion of 

the colonists in their quarrel with England 

Samuel Adams. 

was Samuel Adams, of Boston. At the time 
the quarrel arose, Samuel Adams was over forty years of age, and 
his hair was turning gray. Although he had already reached the 




ENGLAND AND COLONIES QUARREL. SAMUEL ADAMS 133 

prime of life, he had as yet accomplished very little. After graduat- 
ing at Harvard College, Adams entered a law office with the purpose 
of becoming a lawyer. But he did not like the law and gave it up. 
He then went into business for himself, but he was unable to make 
any money, so he gave up business also. For several years he held 
the office of tax-collector in the town of Boston, but he was not 
even successful in this, for he was careless with his accounts. In 
fact, he seemed to fail in everything he undertook. He did not even 
support his family properly, and it has been said that his children 
would have become objects of charity if his wife had not worked 
hard and helped to meet the expenses of the household. 

Samuel Adams becomes the leader of the Patriots. But if 
Samuel Adams did not know how to make money, he knew how to 
lead men. When the quarrel with England arose, he stepped for- 
ward as the leader of the Patriots, for those colonists who were 
opposed to paying the taxes soon took the name of Patriots. In the 
fight with England, Massachusetts led the colonies, Boston led Massa- 
chusetts, and Samuel Adams led Boston. 

When the Paint, Glass and Paper Act was passed, Samuel Adams 
opposed the law with all his might. He wrote to the king, George 
III, a strong letter asking that the law might be repealed. . He went 
among the people and told them not to buy English-made goods, 
especially paint, glass, paper, and tea. The people took his advice, 
and soon the English merchants found they were not selling as 
many goods in America as they had been accustomed to sell. This 
loss of trade frightened England, and soon (in 1770) Parliament 
thought it wise to repeal the Glass, Paint, and Paper Act. The taxes 
on paint, glass, and paper were taken off, though the tax on tea re- 
mained. So Samuel Adams did not lead the fight in vain against the 
Paint, Glass, and Paper Act. 



134 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




The Boston massacre. 



The Boston Massacre. But there was still work for Adams to 
do. The day that Parliament took the tax off paint, glass, and paper 

there was great excitement in 
Boston, for on that day 
(March 5, 1770) some Brit- 
ish soldiers, who had their 
headquarters in the town, 
fired into a crowd and killed 
four men. The soldiers were 
not entirely to blame, for the 
crowd had pelted them with 
balls of ice and had dared 
them to fire. 

This affair, known as the 
Boston Massacre, caused the 
people of the town to fly into a rage. The drums beat, and men, 
women, and children rushed into the streets crying, " Revenge ! Re- 
venge ! " Three thousand citizens flocked to Faneuil Hall, where 
angry speeches were made. They demanded that the troops be re- 
moved from Boston, and sent Samuel Adams to the governor to 
make known their wishes. 

Adams went before the governor and demanded in the name of 
the people that every British soldier should be removed from the 
town at once. The governor saw that Adams was in earnest, and he 
ordered the troops to be withdrawn. From this time on, the people 
of Boston felt that Samuel Adams was their greatest leader. 

The Boston "Tea Party." In 1773, Boston was again having 
trouble with England, and again Samuel Adams was the leader. 
This time, the disagreement was over the tax on tea which, you re- 
member. Parliament refused to take off when it repealed the tax on 



ENGLAND AND COLONIES QUARREL. SAMUEL ADAMS 135 



paint, glass, and paper. The tea-tax was kept, simply to show the 
Americans that Parliament had a right to tax them if it chose to 
do so. 

But the colonists said they would not pay it; that, rather than do 
so, they would drink no tea. In some places the housewives sealed 
up their tea- jars with sealing-wax and resolved not to break the seal 
until the tax should be taken off. 

Ships loaded with tea arrived at New York, Philadelphia, Boston, 
and Annapolis, but at none of these places was a pound of it taken 
off the vessels. Thomas 
Hutchinson, the governor ^^M 
of Massachusetts, deter- K 
mined that the tea 
should be landed at Bos- 
ton and sold in defiance 
of the wishes of the peo- 
ple. Samuel Adams was 
equally determined that 
it should not be. At a 




great 



meetmg 



Throwing the tea overboard. 



of the 

citizens, held in Old South Church, he asked the people what should 
be done. Should the tea be landed and taxed? Or should it be 
sent back to England? Every person present wanted it sent back. 
But the owners of the tea would not do this, and their ships remained 
in the harbor. 

So, under the leadership of Samuel Adams, the people of Boston 
had what was called a *' tea-party." One clear moonlight night, in 
December, 1773, about sixty persons, disguised as Indians, rushed 
on board the two vessels laden with tea and threw nearly three hun- 
dred and fifty chests of it overboard. Samuel Adams was not a 



136 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

member of this *' tea-party," but everybody knew he was its real 
leader. 

1. Why did England wish to tax the colonies? 

2. What was the Stamp Act? What did the law mean to the colonists? 

3. Why did the colonists oppose the Stamp Act? How did they escape paying 
the tax? 

4. What was the Paint, Glass, and Paper Act? 

5. What can you say of the character of Samuel Adams? What can you say of 
his opposition to the Paint, Glass, and Paper Act? 

6. Give an account of the Boston Massacre. 

7. Tell the story of the Boston Tea-Party. 



LESSON XXIII 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THOMAS JEFFERSON 

What does the word congregate mean? What is a Congress? Define the word 
Continental. Locate the following places in Massachusetts : Lexington ; Concord ; 
Bunker Hill. What is a skirmish? Define ammunition. What is meant by 
spiking a cannon? What does the word President mean? Define declaration; in- 
dependence; separation; revolution. 

England tries to punish the people of Boston. When the news 
reached England that the tea had been thrown overboard, Parliament 
quickly decided that the people of Boston should be punished. It 
passed a law (in 1774) forbidding any ships to enter or leave the 
port of Boston until the town should pay for the tea which had been 
destroyed. English war-vessels were sent to guard the town and 
not allow a ship of any kind to sail into the harbor or sail out. Eng- 
lish soldiers also took possession of Boston, and governed it in their 
own way. Thus the town was brought completely under the con- 
trol of English officers. 

The colonies rally to the aid of Boston. The people of Bos- 
ton still refused to pay for the tea. Nor did the colonists out- 
side of the town want them to pay for it. Almost everywhere the 
people were on the side of Boston, and were only too willing to help 
it in its struggle with England. Aid for the town came from every 
colony. So England quickly learned that there was a spirit of union 
in America, and that she could not punish Massachusetts without 
punishing all the colonies. 

137 



38 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



The first Continental Congress. But the people could not 
throw their full strength against England unless they were united. 
The harsh treatment of Boston caused them to unite in a very short 
time. Under the leadership of such men as Samuel Adams, Patrick 
Henry, and Thomas Jefferson the colonies were urged to send dele- 
gates to a colonial or a continental congress. At this congress the 
delegates were to talk matters over, and agree upon a plan by which 
the quarrel with the mother country might be brought to an end. 

The advice of the leaders was taken, 
and in September, 1774, the First Conti- 
nental Congress met in Philadelphia in a 
small room known as Carpenter's Hall. 
At this Congress there were delegates 
from all the colonies except Georgia. 
Among them were some of the greatest 
men in America. From Massachusetts 
there came Samuel Adams and his cousin, 
John Adams; from Rhode Island, Ste- 
phen Hopkins and Samuel West; from 
Connecticut, Roger Sherman and Silas 
Deane; from New York, John Jay and 
Philip Livingston; from Pennsylvania, 
John Dickinson and Joseph Callaway ; from Maryland, Samuel Chase ; 
from Virginia, George Washington and Patrick Henry ; from South 
Carolina, John Rutledge and Christopher Gadsden. 

And what did these men do? They declared that Massachusetts 
was right in her quarrel with England and that, if force was used in 
dealing with Massachusetts, the other colonies ought to unite and 
help their sister colony. They also declared that the Americans had 
every right that an Englishman had, and that England had no right 




The building in which the first Conti- 
nental Congress was held. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THOMAS JEFFERSON 139 

to tax them. They agreed that a second congress should meet in 
Philadelphia in May, 1775, if the troubles with England were not 
settled before that date. They then adjourned and went back to 
their homes. 

Samuel Adams and the Patriots of Boston. Samuel Adams re- 
turned to Boston and took his place again as the leader of the Patri- 
ots. He was greatly encouraged by the meeting at Philadelphia, and 
when he returned to Boston he was bolder and more outspoken than 
ever in his opposition to England. General Gage had been ap- 
pointed governor of Massachusetts to rule the colony until the citi- 
zens of Boston should pay for the tea. But Samuel Adams said that 
the new governor ought not to be obeyed. He urged the Patriots of 
Massachusetts to form a government of their own, and rule the colony 
without regard to the wishes of General Gage ; and they followed his 
advice. He also urged them to arm themselves and prepare for war. 
This they did, and soon 12,000 minute-men — soldiers pledged to be 
ready for service at a minute's notice — were drilling and preparing 
for active warfare. 

Since Samuel Adams was the ringleader of the Patriots, the Eng- 
lish government decided that he must be punished. So General Gage 
was ordered to arrest him and bring him to England for trial. Gage 
was also ordered to arrest John Hancock, a rich merchant of Boston. 
Hancock was a Patriot, and w^as so bitter in his opposition to England 
that he was disliked by the English Government almost as much as 
Samuel Adams himself. 

General Gage tries to arrest Samuel Adams. When the time 
came for the arrest of Adams and Hancock, General Gage learned 
that the two men were visiting a friend at Lexington, a small village 
eleven miles from Boston. He also learned that at Concord, a vil- 
lage six miles beyond Lexington, the Patriots had collected a quantity 



140 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



of ammunition and provisions for the army they were raising. Here, 
thought Gage, was a chance to kill two birds with one stone : he could 
send some soldiers to Concord to seize the ammunition and provisions 
there, and, as they passed through Lexington, they could arrest 
Adams and Hancock. Accordingly, on the night of the i8th of April, 
1775, Gage sent out from Boston eight hundred soldiers with orders 

to arrest Adams and Han- 
cock at Lexington and to 
capture the military stores 
at Concord. Gage tried to 
keep the movement of the 
soldiers secret, but the Pa- 
triots were watching him 
closely. No sooner had the 
troops left Boston than 
swift messengers began to 
ride in every direction and 
rouse the people from their sleep, telling them that the British were 
coming. One of the swiftest of these messengers was Paul Revere, 
who reached Lexington long before the soldiers arrived. Adams and 
Hancock were awakened and informed of their danger. They dressed 
themselves hastily, fled across the fields, and made good their escape. 
The skirmish at Lexington. When, about sunrise, the British 
soldiers reached Lexington they found some seventy minute-men 
drawn up in battle array on the village green and ready to fight. 
Major Pitcairn, the commander of the British soldiers, shouted to 
the minute-men and ordered them to disperse ; but they did not move. 
Then the British fired a volley into their ranks. Seven men were 
killed and five were wounded. The others retreated, for they felt 
it was foolish to battle against a force so much larger than their own. 




Lexington and Concord. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THOMAS JEFFERSON 141 

The battle at Concord. From Lexington the British marched 
on to Concord. There they spiked some cannon, destroyed some 
ammunition, and started back to Boston. But they were not allowed 
to return in peace. On a bridge at Concord they were attacked by a 
large body of minute-men and compelled to beat a hasty retreat. As 




•^ ).*i 



They were fired upon from behind trees and stone walls. 

they hurried on, they were fired upon from behind houses and trees 
and stone walls. By the time they reached Boston, they had lost in 
killed and wounded nearly half their number. This fight took place 
on the 19th of April, 1775, a memorable date in our history, for on 
that day began the struggle which is known as the War of the Revo- 
lution. 

The battle of Bunker Hill. Now that the Patriots and the 
British had come to blows, there was little hope of peace. Soldiers 
from all parts of Massachusetts gathered around Boston, and in a 
few short weeks there was another battle between the colonists and 
the British — the famous struggle on Breed's Hill, generally known 
as the battle of Bunker Hill. This hill overlooked Boston harbor, 
and General Gage thought it ought to be fortified in order to protect 
the British ships that lay there. 



142 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



unher Hill — ''^"' ^ ''^■-■^-^ | 

Breed'kHiII C!!noodles I 

'CharIestpwn/''N-/~'''^ '• /. 




55 



B s r o X ^ 
Boston Q 

ISLAND >iJ 

II A H B R 



O CASTLE 
"y ISLAND 



^ 



But before Gage undertook to fortify the hill the Americans took 
possession of it. Gage sent a large force to drive them away, but 
they held their ground. As the redcoats approached, the Americans 
held back their fire until they could see the whites of the enemy's eyes; 
then, when they did fire, every shot counted. The British made a 

dash up the hill but were driven 
back with terrible loss. They 
made another charge and again 
they were driven back. Then 
they made a third dash. By 
this time the Americans had 
used up all their powder and 
could fight no longer. So they 
fell back, and the British took 
the hill. But it was a costly 
victory, for the British lost 
nearly eleven hundred men while the Americans lost only about four 
hundred. Up to this time the British thought that the Americans 
would not and could not fight, but now they knew that they were as 
brave and as good fighters as themselves. 

The Second Continental Congress. After Samuel Adams and 
John Hancock made their escape from Lexington, they went to Phila- 
delphia to attend the meeting of the Second Continental Congress, 
which, you remember, was to assemble in Philadelphia in Alay, 1775. 
When the Congress met, it chose John Hancock as its president. 
This was like slapping the English government in the face, for it 
looked upon Hancock as a rebel and a traitor. But the members of 
the Congress now cared little about what England might think of 
their actions, for, after the fighting at Lexington and Concord, they 
saw plainly that there would be war. 



Boston and Bunker Hill. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THOMAS JEFFERSON 143 




The desk on which the Declaration 
of Independence was written. 



The Congress at once began to prepare for war. It took charge of 
the soldiers who gathered around Boston, and planned for the raising 
of troops in every colony. The whole force thus raised was to be 
known as the Continental Army. At the head of this army it placed 
George Washington, who was sitting in the Congress as one of its 
members. 

Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. Be- 
sides raising an army and placing Washington at its head, the Second 
Continental Congress took another most 
important step : it declared that the colo- 
nies were free and independent, and 
that they no longer belonged to Great 
Britain. This was what Samuel Adams 
had long desired. Many of the Patriots were opposed to breaking 
away from the mother country entirely, but Adams wanted the colo- 
nies to be completely independent of England. Another member of 
the convention who desired the separation from England was Thomas 
Jefferson of Virginia. Jefferson was an earn- 
est Patriot and a great lover of liberty, and he 
joined with Adams in trying to persuade tlie 
Congress to declare the independence of the 
colonies. 

At first, the majority of the members did 
not favor independence, but by June, 1776, 
they had come to believe that the best thing to 
do was to cut the tie that bound them to Eng- 
Liberty Bell. The bell which land and dcclarc the colonies free and inde- 

was ringing when Independ- 

ence was declared. pcndcut Statcs. So they askcd Jefferson to 

write a Declaration of Independence. This he willingly did, and on 
July 4, 1776, the Declaration was agreed to by the Congress. Samuel 




144 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Adams was now happy, and the people of the colonies were happy 
too. When the news spread that independence had been declared, 
there was great rejoicing. From New Hampshire to Georgia there 
were bonfires, torch-light processions, the firing of guns, and the ring- 
ing of bells. 




When the news spread there was great rejoicing. 

1. In what way did England try to punish the people of Boston? 

2. Give an account of the First Continental Congress. 

3. Why did the English government dislike Samuel Adams? 

4. What efforts were made to arrest Adams? 

5. Give an account of the skirmish at Lexington and also of the battles at Con- 
cord and at Bunker Hill. 

6. What was done by the Second Continental Congress? 

7. By whom was the Declaration of Independence written and when was independ- 
ence declared? 



LESSON XXIV 

THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 

Locate, in New York, Saratoga, Oriskany and Brooklyn ; in New Jersey, Trenton 
and Princeton ; in Pennsylvania, Germantown and Valley Forge ; in Maryland, 
Elkton; in Vermont, Bennington. Where is Staten Island? 

Washington meets the British in the neighborhood of New York 
City. At the time the Congress declared our independence, Gen- 
eral Washington was at Brooklyn, Long Island, preparing for a big 
battle with the British. He had already driven the British from Bos- 
ton, and he had brought his army to Long Island in order to defend 
the City of New York against the attack of a great army that was on 
its way to America. 

The British army, under the command of General Howe, arrived 
at Staten Island on July 5, 1776, one day after independence was de- 
clared. When the army landed, the Americans saw clearly that, if 
they were going to enjoy their independence, they would have to fight 
hard for it; for Howe had 25,000 men while Washington had only 
about half that number. Washington was attacked by Howe (Au- 
gust 2^, 1776) at Brooklyn. On the first day Washington lost sev- 
eral hundred men, and it seemed that, if the fighting continued, a large 
part of the American army would be destroyed. But Washington 
knew how to save his soldiers. One dark and foggy night he left his 
camp-fires burning, in order to deceive the enemy, and, with his entire 
army, crossed the river to the New York side. 

He retires from New York and retreats across New Jersey. 

145 



146 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



General Howe of course followed, and for several months the two 
armies fought for the possession of New York City. There were 
some sharp engagements at Harlem and at White Plains, but there 
was no pitched battle around New York, because Washington did not 
wish to have one. By the middle of November he saw that he could 




Washington's movements in 1776. 

not hold New York, so he left the city in the possession of the British 
and retreated across New Jersey, going first to Newark, then to New 
Brunswick, then to Trenton. 

As the Americans marched across New Jersey, Howe followed 
close upon their heels. At Newark, as they moved out of one end of 



WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 147 



The 



the town, the British came in at the other. Reaching Trenton, the 
Americans crossed the Delaware River, and, as their last boat left 
the shore, Howe's army came up. 

Washington fights the battles of Trenton and Princeton. 
fight at Trenton had only been postponed, how- 
ever, for in a blinding snow storm on Christmas 
night, when the river was full of floating ice, 
Washington recrossed the Delaware, and in the 
morning made a sudden attack upon the British, 
who were unprepared for action after their 
Christmas revelries. He captured a thousand 
Hessian soldiers who were fighting in the British 
ranks simply for the pay they received. 

A few days later at Princeton Washington 
again met the British and defeated three regi- 
ments of their regular soldiers. Wlien the peo- 
ple throughout the colonies — or the States as 
we must now call them — heard of what W'ash- 
ington had done at Trenton and at Princeton 
there were great rejoicings, for they then felt 
sure that W^ashington would lead his army to victory and give the 
Americans their independence. 

Washington meets the British in the neighborhood of Phil- 
adelphia. After the battle at Princeton Washington led his 
troops to Morristown, New Jersey, where he spent the rest of the 
winter. In the spring of 1777 Howe took his army by sea from 
New York to the head of Chesapeake Bay, and landed near the town 
of Elkton in Maryland. Howe's purpose now was to capture Phila- 
delphia, the city in which the Congress was holding its sessions and 
which was the capital of the new nation — the United States of 




A Hessian soldier. 



148 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




America. When Kowe landed at Elkton, he found Washington was 
near by to give him battle. As Howe marched toward Philadelphia, 

he was attacked (September ii, 1777) by the 
Americans at Brandywine, near W^ilmington, 
but his stronger army defeated them, and he 
pushed on and entered Philadelphia. On Oc- 
tober 4 Washington again gave battle to the 
enemy at Germantown, but again they were 
too strong for him. He retired, leaving the 
British in full possession of Philadelphia. 

The winter at Valley Forge. After the 
battle at Germantown Washington took his 
army to Valley Forge, where he spent the 
winter. And a terrible winter it was. The 
weather was very cold, and the soldiers did 
not have enough clothes to keep them warm. 
Many of them were without beds and had to sleep in the snow. Some 
died of starvation. But one piece of good fortune came to the army. 
Baron von Steuben, an able German soldier, spent the winter at Val- 
ley Forge, where he drilled the soldiers and prepared them for fighting. 
The battle of Bennington. Around Philadelphia the outlook" 
for the Americans in 1777 was very dark, but in northern New York 
the skies were bright. In June, 1777, the British general, John Bur- 
goyne, started from Canada with a large army, expecting to march to 
Albany. But his army never reached its destination. 

Burgoyne sailed up Lake Champlain and drove the Americans from 
Fort Ticonderoga. Then he marched on to Fort Edward. While 
there, he heard that there was a large quantity of excellent provisions 
at Bennington, a little village in Vermont. So he sent off about a 
thousand men to seize the provisions. But the village was defended 



A Continental soldier. 



WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 149 



by some Green Mountain Boys under the command of Colonel John 
Stark, who had fought at Bunker Hill. When Stark went into bat- 
tle, he said to his men that either 
he would win the fight, or his 
wife would be a widow before 
night. Mrs. Stark was not 
made a widow for Stark was 
not killed, but the British were 
driven back with terrible loss. 
Scarcely a hundred of them 
were ' able to make their way 
back to Burgoyne. 

The great victory at Sara- 
toga. When they returned, 
they found things going hard 
with the general. The Ameri- 
cans were doing everything they 
could to delay the British in 
their march to Albany. They 
cut down trees and let them fall 




CONN. 
West Point 



Scene of Burgoyne's campaign. 



across the roads ; they destroyed bridges ; they stripped the country 
of cattle and provisions. In this way the enemy were delayed until 
the Americans could gather their forces for an attack. 

Burgoyne expected aid from western New York, for it had been 
planned that the British General, St. Leger, was to lead an army from 
Oswego down the Mohawk Valley to Albany. But St. Leger did 
not come, for he was attacked by the Americans at Oriskany and his 
march checked. Burgoyne also expected help from Howe, who was 
in New York. But about this time Howe, as you remember, was on 
his way to Philadelphia. So Burgoyne had to fight his battles alone. 



150 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

When the time came to give battle, Burgoyne found that he was not 
prepared to fight. His army was without food, and the Americans 
in large numbers were ready to attack him on every side. He was 
caught in a trap. He tried to fight his way out, but in vain. At 
Saratoga on the 17th of October he surrendered his army, and six 
thousand British soldiers were made prisoners of war. General Ho- 
ratio Gates commanded the Americans in this battle at Saratoga, but 
much of the hardest fighting was done by General Benedict Arnold. 

Why the surrender of Burgoyne was important. The sur- 
render of Burgoyne was the most important event of the Revolution, 
and you should understand why this was so. What did the battle of 
Saratoga mean to the Americans? In the first place, it gave them 
fresh hope and courage. It was the first really great battle they had 
won, and this victory over Burgoyne made them feel that they could 
win others. In the second place, it freed a large part of their coun- 
try from the enemy, for, after the soldiers of Burgoyne were made 
prisoners, the only large British army left on American soil was the 
one which had its headquarters at New York City (p. 146) ; in every 
other part of the country the Americans were in full control. In the 
third place, the victory at Saratoga gave a blow to the pride of the 
English government. After the surrender of Burgoyne England 
offered the Americans almost everything they asked for. She told 
them that, if they would lay down their arms, they might send repre- 
sentatives to Parliament ; that they would not be taxed ; and that every 
American who had fought against her would be pardoned. But one 
thing England refused to do: she refused to give the Americans their 
independence. So they did not lay down their arms, but fought on. 

Benjamin Franklin persuades the French to help the Americans. 
There was still another reason why the defeat of Burgoyne was a 
most important event : the victory caused Erance to become the friend 



WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 151 



of the United States. At the time this battle was fought, Benjamin 
FrankHn was in Paris trying to persuade the French government to 
acknowledge our independence; that is, to treat the United States 
as a separate and independent nation. No better person could have 
been sent to plead our cause, for every one in Paris liked him and 
thought him a wonderful man. At first Franklin was discouraged, 
for he could not make the French believe that the Americans were 
strong enough to break away 
from England and form an in- 
dependent nation. But when 
the news of Saratoga came, the 
French quickly changed their 
minds and acknowledged (Feb- 
ruary, 1778) the independence 
of the United States. When 
this glorious news reached 
America, how it must have 
cheered the hearts of Washing- 
ton and his suffering men at Valley Forge ! 

The French make treaty with the United States. Franklin did 
another thing at Paris that was of the greatest importance to the 
American cause : he persuaded the French government to enter into a 
treaty of friendship with the United States. According to this treaty 
France promised to help America to win its independence. She was 
only too glad to do this for she had not forgiven England for driv- 
ing her out of the Western World. France kept her promise faith- 
fully and sent many ships and many soldiers, and Americans and 
Frenchmen fought side by side until the War of the Revolution was 
ended. 

Among the Frenchmen who fought on the side of the Americans 




A sentinel on guard during the winter at Valley 
Forge. 



152 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

was a wealthy young nobleman named Lafayette. At the outbreak 
of the Revolution Lafayette was still a boy but he loved liberty and 
he wanted the Americans to win their independence. Before he was 
twenty years of age he fitted out a ship at his own expense and sailed 
(in 1777) to America to help the struggling colonies. He was 
quickly made a general and he soon became one of Washington's 
most faithful officers. He fought in many battles and he always 
showed himself to be a brave and skilful soldier. 

1. Give an account of the fighting between General Washington and General 
Howe; (a) in the neighborhood of New York; (b) at Trenton and Princeton; (c) 
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 

2. Tell the experiences of the Americans at Valley Forge. 

3. What can you say of the battle of Bennington? 

4. Give an account of the fighting in northern New York. 

5. Give three reasons why the surrender of Burgoyne was very important. 

6. Name two great things done by Franklin while he was in Paris. 

7. What can you say of Lafayette? 



LESSON XXV 

the war of the revolution. george washington 
(continued) 

Locate Monmouth, New Jersey ; Kaskaskia, Illinois ; Vincennes, Indiana ; Camden, 
South Carolina; West Point, New York; Yorktown, Virginia. What is the Union 
Jack? What is a traitor? Define the word treason. What is a spy? 

Washington meets the British at Monmouth. When the ter- 
rible winter at Valley Forge was over, Washington was ready to take 
the field with the army that had been so well drilled by Baron von 
Steuben. In the summer of 1778 the British army left Philadelphia 
and returned to New York. But Washington did not allow them to 
make the journey in peace. He attacked them at Monmouth, New 
Jersey (June, 1778). There was hard fighting on both sides, but 
neither army could claim a victory. The British were not checked; 
they marched on to New York City. Washington followed, taking 
his army up the Hudson River to White Plains. For nearly three 
years the British remained at New York, and Washington remained 
near by watching their movements. 

The daring deeds of George Rogers Clark. While Washington 
and the British were watching each other in the neighborhood of 
New York City, a most important event happened on the far-off west- 
ern frontier. You remember that under the leadership of Daniel 
Boone settlements had been made in Kentucky before the Revolution. 
After the Revolution began, the British armed the Indians who lived 

153 



154 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



north of the Ohio River and sent them down into Kentucky where 
they massacred helpless men, women, and children wherever they 
could find them. It was no uncommon thing for a Kentucky farmer, 
on returning home after a day's work, to find his house in ashes and 
his wife and children murdered. 

George Rogers Clark, one of the Kentucky settlers, determined to 
punish the Indians and drive the British out of the country north of 

the Ohio River. Clark was six 
feet tall and stout in body; his hair 
was long and red, and his eyes were 
black and sparkling. He was just 
the man to lead a fight against the 
enemy in the western country. 

In the summer of 1778 this dash- 
ing officer, with about 150 men, 
floated down the Ohio River to the 
mouth of the Cumberland. Here 
he went ashore with his men and 
marched across Illinois to the little town of Kaskaskia, where there 
was a fort held by a company of British troops and some Indians. 
Clark marched up to the fort at night. His movements were so quiet 
that the British did not even dream that an enemy was near. The 
soldiers in the fort were dancing when Clark and his men arrived. 
He walked into the dancing-hall, and, standing against a door-post, 
told the soldiers that they could go on with their dancing, but that 
they must dance under the American flag and not under the flag of 
England. The men were frightened by the bold words of Clark, and 
surrendered the fort without striking a blow in its defense. Thus 
Kaskaskia was taken, and the Illinois country passed into the pos- 
session of the Americans. 




Surprise at Kaskaskia 



WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 155 

From Kaskaskia Clark marched across Illinois to Vincennes, in 
Indiana, where there was another British fort. When the time came 
for attacking Vincennes, the country around the fort was flooded 
with water three or four feet deep. Clark and his men waded through 
the flood holding their guns above their heads. \Vlien they ap- 
peared at the fort, the British were greatly surprised, for they did not 
suppose that any army could possibly reach them. Clark made a 
fierce attack, and the garrison soon surrendered. The commander 
was captured and sent to Virginia in chains. Thus Vincennes fell, 
and all the country north of the Ohio was taken from the British. 
The boldness and bravery of George Rogers Clark gave to our coun- 
try five magnificent States : Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and 
Wisconsin. 

John Barry and John Paul Jones. While we are learning of 
the great deeds that were performed on the land during the Revolu- 
tion, we must not forget those that were performed on the sea. The 
American navy was small, it is true, but the American sailors were 
bold and courageous, and they gave sharp battle to many a British 
ship. 

One of the bravest of the American sea-fighters was Commodore 
John Barry ; " saucy Jack " Barry he was called. He was the first 
captain to be placed in command of a war-vessel under the American 
flag, and the first to carry that flag to victory onr the ocean. This 
he did when his ship, the Lexington, captured the British sloop 
Edward off the coast of Virginia on April 7, 1776. 

But the greatest sea-fighter of the Revolution was Captain John 
Paul Jones, and his greatest battle was the one between his ship, the 
Bon H online Richard, and a British ship called the Serapis. These 
two vessels met off the coast of England on Sept. 23rd, 1779, and 
began to pour broadsides into each other. After they had fought for 



156 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




awhile, the captain of the Serapis, thinking that the Richard was 

about to sink, called out to Jones asking him if he was about to sur- 
render. Jones replied, '' I have not 
yet begun to fight." And truly he 
had only begun the battle. He 
brought his vessel close to the 
Serapis and fought till the decks of 
both vessels ran with blood and until 
the ships caught fire. After the bat- 
tle had raged for nearly four hours, 
the captain of the Serapis handed his 
sword to Jones and surrendered his 
ship. After this victory Jones was 
greeted as a hero wherever he went. 
He deserved all the praise that was 
given to him, for he had won one 

of the greatest battles ever fought on the sea. 

The Battle of Camden. In 1779, the year in which Clark raised 

the Stars and Stripes over British forts in the West, and the year in 

which John Paul Jones hauled 

down the Union Jack from the 

masts of British vessels in the 

far-ofif English Channel, there 

was but little fighting between 

the regular armies at the main 

scene of war. But in 1780 

there was a great deal of fight- 
ing. In that year the British 

sent troops to the South and took possession of Georgia and South 

Carolina. At Camden, South Carolina, the British met the Ameri- 



The fight between the Bon Homme Richard 
and the Serapis. 




Some Revolutionary flags. 



WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 157 

cans in battle (August, 1780), defeating them and putting them to 
flight. The Americans lost a large number of men, all their 
cannon and provisions, and nearly all their muskets and ammuni- 
tion. 

The treason of Benedict Arnold. When the battle of Camden 
was fought, General Washington was at West Point on the 
Hudson, where he was watching the British (p. 153) in New 
York City. About the time the news of the disastrous defeat at 
Camden arrived, he was greatly troubled by something which hap- 
pened almost under his own eyes — the treason of Benedict Ar- 
nold. 

For five years Arnold had been fighting bravely on the side of Amer- 
ica. In the summer of 1775, at the very outbreak of the war, he and 
Colonel Ethan Allen had captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point ; in 
December, 1775, he and Richard Montgomery had led an attack 
against Quebec; in the battle of Saratoga he was the first to break 
through the British lines, and, while fighting at the head of his troops, 
he fell severely wounded. 

If Arnold had died of the wound which he received at Saratoga, 
his name would now^ stand high among the heroes of the Revolution. 
But he recovered and in September, 1780, he entered into a plot to 
surrender West Point to the British. He did this because he felt that 
he had not been treated justly by the Americans. 

Arnold met Major Andre, a young British of^cer, and made ar- 
rangements for the surrender. The plans were stated in writing by 
Arnold himself. But through good luck the plot failed and West 
Point was saved, for Andre, on his way back to New York, was cap- 
tured. He was searched, and the papers were found in his boots. 
Major Andre was hung as a spy; but he was a brave man, and he 
died as a brave man should. He went to the gallows with a smile 



158 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



on his face ; he bandaged his own eyes, and sHpped the noose over his 
head with his own hands. 

Arnold, as soon as he heard that the plot had been discovered, 
hastily left West Point and joined the British in New York. As a 
reward for his treason he received six thousand pounds sterling and 
was made a general in the British army. After this he fought on 




The surrender at Yorktown. 



the side of the enemy and did his countrymen all the harm he 
could. 

Washington defeats the British at Yorktown. Washington 
was greatly distressed by the treason of Arnold and by the bad news 
that came from the South, yet he did not lose heart. In January, 
1 78 1, he placed General Nathanael Greene in command of the south- 



WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. GEORGE WASHINGTON 159 

ern forces, and Greene was so successful that he soon took from the 
British all the territory they had won. 

In the fall of 1781 Washington himself hurried south with his 
army, marching at the rate of more than twenty-five miles a day. 
When he reached Yorktown, he found General Cornwallis there with 
the main body of the British army, holding a position on the peninsula 
formed by the York and the James Rivers. Lafayette, the young 
French general, was near by with an army ready to assist in the attack 
on the British. Moreover, at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay there was 
a fleet of French war-ships ready to help the Americans. Washing- 
ton saw that here was a chance to catch the enemy in a trap. He 
joined his forces with those of Lafayette, surrounded the British, and 
closed in on them, outnumbering them two to one. Cornwallis could 
not escape by water because of the French fleet, so he was compelled 
to fight. The British fought bravely but in vain; Washington was 
too strong for them. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781, 
and his entire army of eight thousand men were made prisoners 
of war. 

The Treaty of peace. With the battle of Yorktown the War of 
the Revolution came to an end, for after the defeat of Cornwallis 
England saw that she would never be able to conquer the Americans. 
So at Paris, in 1783, a treaty of peace was made between Great Brit- 
ain and the United States. By the terms of this treaty it was agreed 
that there should be no more fighting between the British and the 
American troops; that the British soldiers should leave the United 
States; and best of all, that the United States should have their 
INDEPENDENCE. 

1. Give an account of the battle of Monmouth. 

2. Tell the story of the daring deeds of George Rogers Clark. 

3. Tell the story of the naval victories of John Barry and John Paul Jones. 



i6o FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

4. Give an account of the battle of Camden. 

5. Tell the story of the treason of Benedict Arnold. 
6 Tell the story of the battle of Yorktown. 

7. What were the terms of the treaty which was made between Great Britam and 
the United States in 1783? 



LESSON XXVI 

SIX UNHAPPY years: 1783-I789 

What does the word confederation mean? Define royal; foreign; contemptible; 
lawlessness; mob; disturbance; riot; militia; chairman; violate. What is a con- 
vention ? Define the word constitution. What is meant by " levying taxes " ? What 
is meant by the " face value " of a piece of paper money? 

Why the years 1 783-1 789 were unhappy years. The War of 

the Revokition brought independence to the United States, and the 
people were of course proud of the freedom which they had won. 
But the years which foUowed the Revolution were not happy years. 
The long war had done the country a great deal of harm, and, after 
the treaty of peace was made, it still suffered from the ill effects of 
the fighting. Then, too, after America broke away from England it 
became necessary for the new nation to govern itself, and,, while it 
was trying to find a way to do this, there was a great deal of quarrel- 
ing and discontent. This condition of affairs became most serious 
between 1783 and 1789. So we may call these the six unhappy years. 
Weakness of the Government under the Articles of Confedera- 
tion. Much of the trouble was due to the fact that the United 
wStates did not have a good form of government. During most of the 
Revolution the country was governed by the Continental Congress, 
which, you remember, was formed in 1775. Just before the war was 
over, the States adopted (in 1781) the Articles of Confederation. 
These Articles provided a government for the United States, but they 
did not give it enough officers. Under the Articles the United States 
had a Congress to make laws, but it had no President to carry the laws 

161 



J2 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



into effect, or judges to try cases when disputes arose. Nor did the 
Articles of Confederation give the Government of the United States 
enough power. They gave Congress power to declare war, but not 
to raise and support an army. They gave Congress power to borrow 
money, but not to levy taxes and collect the money that was necessary 
to pay the debt. They gave Congress power to make treaties with 
foreign nations, but they did not give it power to make the people 
obey the treaties. So under the Articles the United States could not 
keep its treaties, it could not pay its debts, it could not provide an 
army for the defense of the country. The result was that under the 
Articles of Confederation the United States had a government that 
was weak and helpless and almost penniless. 

Illustrations of the poverty of the Government and its weak- 
ness. That the United States was very poor during the unhappy 
days of the Confederation is shown by the fact that at one time 
Congress did not have money enough to provide its secretary with 
pens, ink, and paper. 

How weak and helpless the Government was is shown by an inci- 




§o}(}{trs clttcKking the lial) in which Congress was sitting. 



SIX UNHAPPY YEARS: 1783-1789 



163 



dent which happened in 1786 in Philadelphia, where Congress held its 
sessions. In the neighborhood of the city there were some soldiers 
who had fought in the Revolution. They had never been paid for 
their services, although they had asked again and again for their 
money. Congress had no funds and of course could not pay them. 
Finally the soldiers decided to wait no ^onger. About eighty of their 
number marched into Philadelphia to demand what was due to them. 
They surrounded the hall in which Congress was sitting, and threw 
stones through the windows. The members finding themselves in 
danger crawled out of the windows, or escaped through the back door 
of the building, and fled to Trenton. Not a hand was raised to pro- 
tect the Congress! Not a blow was given in defense of the Govern- 
ment of the United States! Washington was deeply grieved by this 
disgraceful conduct. " To be more exposed in the eyes of the world," 
he said, " and more contemptible than we already are is hardly pos- 
sible." 

The lack of money. Not only was Congress poor during the 
days of the Confederation, but the people were poor also. They were 
heavily in debt, and had very little 
money for the payment of debts or 
for anything else. In some of the 
States the grain that had been har- 
vested rotted in the barns because it 
could not be sold. If the farmer 
wished shoes and clothing for his 
family, he was compelled to go from 
village to village to find a shoemaker 
who would trade shoes for wheat, or 
and take pumpkins in payment. 

In some of the States paper money was printed, but it could not 




usiiii 



'T'HISBai e^MUith 

SIX 5PANIS°H MlLlS) 
DOLUUW , or the 

or SILVER. "i^^W*^ 

aRe«.Ltlcnof COW,' 

Uitlpkic ticv-Z nT6- 
(7 cTictt^Zhx/ 






Continental money. 



a tailor who would make a coat 



i64 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

take the place of gold and silver. People would not receive it at its 
face value. At first, a dollar in paper money would buy ninety cents 
worth of goods; then only eighty cents worth; and it continued to fall 
in value until it reached a point where it was worth almost nothing. 
At one time this money had so fallen in value that it took a wagon- 
load of it to buy a wagon-load of food. 

Shays's Rebellion. Where good money was so scarce, and 
where the people were so burdened with debt, there was bound to be 
discontent and lawlessness. In many places mobs gathered and riots 
broke out. In Massachusetts, where the common people thought they 
w^ere being badly treated, there was open warfare against the govern- 
ment. 

At Springfield there was a disturbance known as Shays's Rebellion. 
In 1786 Daniel Shays, who had been a captain in the American army 
during the Revolution, raised a force of several hundred men and 
threatened to overthrow the government of Massachusetts. The 
governor of the State sent the militia against Shays, and the rebellion 
was quickly put down. But the rebels were not punished. Even 
Shays himself was allowed to go free. If the Confederation had been 
strong. Shays w^ould not have dared to do what he did, for he would 
have known that the United States Government would have sent a 
large army to help Massachusetts, a thing it was too weak to do. 

The " new roof." By this time the leading men of the country 
realized that it was necessary for the United States to have a stronger 
government. They saw that under the Articles of Confederation the 
Government was a roof that was full of leaks. So they decided that 
there should be a change — that there should be a roof that would not 
leak. 

In 1787 the leaders met in Philadelphia and held the Constitutional 
Convention. Washington was chairman, and Benjamin Franklin was 



SIX UNHAPPY YEARS: 1783-1789 



165 



one of the members. They all agreed to do away with the Articles 
of Confederation and adopt a new form of government. The plans 
they worked out were stated in a document which they called the Con- 
stitution of the United States of America. After it had been ap- 
proved by the Convention, it was sent to the different States and the 
people were asked to vote for or against it. In eleven States the peo- 
ple voted for it. So the Constitution framed at the Convention in 
Philadelphia became the new roof under which the people of the 
United States were to live. It has remained our Constitution until 
the present time. 

Why the Constitution was better than the Articles of Confedera- 
tion. The Constitution was better than the Articles of Confed- 




The Ship of State, drawn through the streets of New York at the time of the adoption of 

the Constitution. 



eration for two reasons. In the first place, the Constitution ga\'e 
Congress more poiver than it had before. Under it, Congress could 
levy taxes and thus raise money to meet the ordinary expenses of the 
Government and support an army and navy. It was also given power 



i66 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

to regulate trade carried on between the different States. This was 
most important, for in the days of the Confederation the States often 
quarreled with each other about matters of trade, and Congress had 
no authority to settle such differences. In the second place, the Con- 
stitution provided for enough officers to carry on the Government. 
There was to be a President who was to be elected every four years, 
and United States courts were established with judges who should 
have the power to punish any person who violated a law of the United 
States. So you see the Constitution gave the people of the United 
States a much stronger government than they had under the Articles 
of Confederation. 

1. Why were the years 1783-1789 six unhappy years? 

2. Point out the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, 

3. Give an ilkistration of the poverty of the government under the Articles, and 
also an illustration of its weakness. 

4. What can you say of the lack of money during the days of the Confederation? 

5. Tell the story of Shays's Rebellion. 

6. In what way did we secure a new Constitution? 
>. Why was the Constitution better than the Articles? 



LESSON XXVII 



PRESIDENT WASHINGTON 



What is an inauguration? What is an inaugural address? Define the words: 
execute; cabinet; treasury; secretary; consult; confidential; lieutenant colonel; re- 
sign; grateful; retire, favorable. How is the President of the United States elected? 

Washingon is elected President. The new Constitution pro- 
vided that a President was to be elected in 1788. The people of the 
country wanted George Washington as their first President, and he 
was elected. At this time Washington was 
Hving at Mount Vernon, his beautiful home 
on the Potomac River. He did not really 
wish to be President. He was growing old, 
and longed for quiet and rest. But his coun- 
try needed him, and he was always ready to 
serve its call. So when in April, 1789, the 
message came to Mount Vernon that he had 
been elected, the great man felt that it was 
his duty to accept the high office. 

The journey to New York City. As 
soon as Washington learned of his election, 
he started on the long journey to New York 
City, which was then the capital of the United States. On the way 
he learned how greatly he was loved by the people. At Alexandria, 
Virginia, he was given a farewell dinner by his neighbors. At Phila- 

167 




George Washington. 



i68 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

delphia a splendid entertainment was prepared for him. At Trenton 
he was received in royal fashion. An arch was erected on the bridge 
across which he had led his army in the days of the Revolution. 
This arch was supported on thirteen pillars, around which were twined 
evergreens and flowers, and under it stood a number of young girls 
holding baskets of flowers in their hands. As Washington drew near, 
the girls strewed their flowers before him and sang. 

The wheels of the new Government set in motion. Washing- 
ton reached New York on April 23, but a week passed before he 
was inaugurated as President. On April 30, 1789, he took his place 
at the head of a long procession of soldiers and citizens and 
marched to the building where the new Congress was in session. 
Standing on a balcony, in the presence of a large number of people, he 
took the oath of office, saying: "I do solemnly swear that I will 
faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will 
to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitu- 
tion of the United States." Again the people cheered, the bells rang, 
and the cannon thundered. After the oath of office was taken, Wash- 
ington read his inaugural address. Thus the wheels of the new Gov- 
ernment were set in motion. 

Washington's cabinet. One of the first things done by Wash- 
ington was to appoint three officers to help him in the management 
of affairs. These were Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia; Alexander 
Hamilton, of New York ; and Henry Knox, of Massachusetts. Jeffer- 
son was made Secretary of State and was given charge of foreign af- 
fairs ; Hamilton was made Secretary of the Treasury and was given 
charge of the money received and paid out by the Government; Knox 
was made Secretary of War and was given charge of the little army, 
which at that time consisted of about nine hundred soldiers — not 
enough to form a single regiment. These three men, Jefferson, Ham- 



PRESIDENT WASHINGTON 



169 



ilton, and Knox, worked with Washington and consulted with him, 
and came to be known as the President's cabinet. 

Alexander Hamilton. The man who helped Washington most 
was Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton 
was born on an island in the West Indies in 1757. In 1773 he went 
to New York City and entered King's College, now Columbia Uni- 
versity. At school and at college Hamilton 
showed that he had a wonderful mind. 

Once, when very young, his teacher placed 
him upon a table at her side, so that he might 
be seen, and asked him to recite the Com- 
mandments to the school. The little fellow 
repeated them without making a mistake. 
At the age of seventeen he made his way 
through a crowd in New York City, mounted "| 
a platform, and delivered a speech in behalf 
of the Patriots. The speech was so power- 
ful and had such a great effect that the Tories 
tried to win the boy to their side. But 
Hamilton remained faithful to his chosen party. 

When the War of the Revolution began, Hamilton fought on the 
American side ; and before he was twenty-one years old, General 
Washington made him one of his aids and gave him the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel. For nearly five years Hamilton was a member of 
Washington's military family, acting as the aid and confidential secre- 
tary of the commander-in-chief. During these years Washington 
learned what a great man Hamilton was, and when he became Presi- 
dent, he was glad to make the young man a member of his cabinet. 

Hamilton raises money for the support of the Government. 
Washington expected great things of Hamilton, and he was not dis- 




Alexander Hamilton. 



170 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

appointed. You remember that under the Confederation the United 
States could not get enough money to meet the Government expenses. 
Hamilton devised a plan for getting the necessary money by laying a 
tariffs or tax, on goods brought to America from foreign countries. 
The tariff was to be put on glass, tin, salt, tea, sugar, wine, coffee, and 
molasses. He also proposed to tax liquor manufactured in the United 
States. He laid his plans before Congress, which approved them and 
passed the necessary laws. The results were very satisfactory. The 
tariff and the tax on liquor soon brought in money enough to meet 
the expenses of government, and also gradually to pay off its debts, and 
the Government of the United States no longer suffered for want of 
money, as it had done in the unhappy days of the Confederation. 

The Whisky Rebellion. Most of the new taxes were cheer- 
fully paid, but there was some trouble over the tax on liquor. In 
western Pennsylvania the distillers did not wish to pay the tax on 
whisky. One of the officers sent to collect it was given a coat of tar 
and feathers. Another was compelled to resign his office. 

For these and other unlawful acts Washington found it necessary 
to send an army into Pennsylvania. In 1794 about 15,000 soldiers 
marched to Pittsburgh to give battle to the law-breakers. But there 
was no battle, for when the army reached Pittsburgh the rebels scat- 
tered and fled. Two of the leaders were arrested and sentenced to 
death, but they were pardoned by Washington. Thus the Whisky 
Rebellion, as the uprising was called, was brought quickly to an end. 
By his prompt measures against the Whisky Rebellion Washington 
showed the country that the United States had a government strong 
enough to make everybody obey its laws. 

Washington has trouble with the Indians. At about the same 
time Washington was also having trouble with the Indians in the 
Northwest Territory, that is, in the wild region north of the Ohio 



PRESIDENT WASHINGTON 171 

River. While he was President settlers from New England were 
moving out into the Northwest Territory in great numbers, and were 
clearing away the forests, building cabins, and planting grain. But 
they were not allowed to live in peace. The country was full of In- 
dians, and many a white man was scalped while working in his fields 

The Indians became so troublesome that Washington found it nec- 
essary to make war upon them. In 1791 he sent General Arthur St. 
Clair against them with an army of about fourteen hundred. But St. 
Clair did not know how to fight savages. He allowed his troops to be 
caught in a trap. One morning about sunrise the Indians surprised 
and defeated them and routed them in a shameful manner. But in 
the end the white man was too strong for the red man. In 1794 Gen- 
eral Anthony Wayne, at the head of several thousand soldiers, 
marched against the Indians and defeated them in battle at Fallen 
Timbers. After this defeat the Indians agreed to give up all the 
country which is now the eastern part of Ohio. They promised, too, 
not to wage war again upon the whites. 

Washington elected for a second term. The new Constitution 
provided that the President should be elected for a term of four years. 
Washington's first term came to an end in 1793, and near its close he 
expressed a wish to retire to private life. But the people of the coun- 
try wished him to serve again and he could not refuse them. He was 
reelected, and on March 4, 1793, he entered upon his second term of 
oflfice. 

Trouble with France. During Washington's second term the 
United States had a great deal of trouble with France. In 1792 war 
broke out between France and England. France felt that the United 
States ought to help her against England because the French had 
helped the United States in the War of the Revolution. A great 
many of our own people thought so, too. But Washington believed 



172 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



that it would not be wise to side with France and thus bring on an- 
other war with England. He was grateful for what the French had 
done for us, but he did not wish to plunge his country into war. So 
he decided that the United States should be neutral; that is, that it 
should show favors to neither France nor England, but should treat 
both countries alike. 

Trouble with England. Washington had trouble with England 
as well as with France. As soon as the war between England and 
France broke out, English ships began to seize American vessels which 
were on their way to France, and take possession of the corn, or 




Mount Vernon, the home of Washington. 



flour, or meat that was on board. Sometimes officers of the British 
navy would search American ships, and if any Englishmen were found 
on board, they were taken off and impressed into the service of the 
British. All this made the people of the United States very angry, 
and in many places there was a cry for war. Washington did not 
want to fight, and in order to avoid doing so, he made a treaty 
in 1795 with England known as Jay's Treaty. The terms of the 
treaty were not very favorable to the United States, but it served to 
keep peace with Great Britain, and that was what Washington wished. 



PRESIDENT WASHINGTON 173 

Washington retires to Mount Vernon. Before Washington's 
second term had ended, the great man had decided he would retire to 
private Hfe. The people still wanted him to be President, and would 
gladly have elected him for a third term, but Washington would not 
consent to serve. In 1796 he published his farewell address, and when 
his second term came to an end (March 4, 1797) he returned to Mount 
Vernon where he lived peacefully and happily until his death. When 
he died (1799) the people everywhere mourned his loss deeply, for 
they knew that the greatest and best of Americans had passed away. 

1. What can you say of the election of Washington as President? 

2. Describe Washington's journey from Mount Vernon to New York City. 

3. Give an account of the inauguration of Washington. 

4. Who were the members of Washington's cabinet? 

5. Tell the story of the life of Hamilton. 

6. How did Hamilton raise money for the support of the government? 

7. Give an account of the Whisky Rebellion. 

8. Tell about the troubles which Washington had with the Indians. 

9. Give an account of the trouble which Washington had with France. 

10. Give an account of the trouble which Washington had with England. 

11. What can you say of the retirement of Washington? 



LESSON XXVIII 

IN THE DAYS OF JOHN ADAMS 

Give two meanings of the word succeed; two meanings of the word minister. 
In what year was John Adams born? What was the exact date of his death? De- 
fine recognize; conditions; census; career. What are modern conveniences? De- 
scribe the Muskingum River. Locate Marietta ; Cincinnati ; Dayton ; Cleveland ; 
Oswego, New York; Buffalo; Nashville. 



John Adams, a great man and a great leader. The man chosen 
to succeed Washington as President was John Adams, of Massachu- 
setts. He was a cousin of Samuel Adams, and like his cousin he had 
been a leader in the War of the Revolution. He was a member of the 

Continental Congress (page 174), and it was he 
who first told that body that George Washing- 
ton ought to be made commander-in-chief of 
the American army. He was one of the sign- 
ers of the Declaration of Independence, and he 
helped to make the treaty of peace with Eng- 
land which acknowledged our independence 
(page 160). During the eight years of \\'ash- 
ington's presidency Adams was Vice-President. 
So, when he took his seat as President, he was 
known throughout the United States as a great man and a great leader. 
Adams prepares for war with France. Adams had trouble with 
France just as Washington had before him. The French Government 

174 




John Adams. 



IN THE DAYS OF JOHN ADAMS 175 

did not show proper respect to our minister in Paris, and American 
vessels on the ocean were captured and pkmdered by French war- 
ships. In fact, the United States was so shamefully treated by France 
that Adams prepared for war. New vessels were added to the navy. 
The army was increased and Washington was made its commander. 
But he was not called upon to fight. When France saw that we were 
in earnest, she promised to treat our ministers as they ought to be 
treated, and to deal fairly with our vessels on the sea. So, in 1800, 
the United States entered into a treaty with France, and the two coun- 
tries became friends again. 

Three new States. Adams was President for four years — from 
1 797-180 1. During his term of office the eighteenth century came to 
an end and the nineteenth century began. What kind of a country 
did we have at the end of the eighteenth century? Let us look back- 
ward and learn about our country as it was in the days of John Adams. 

In 1800 there were sixteen States in the Union. When Washing- 
ton took his seat as President, there were only thirteen, but it was not 
long before other States were taken into the Union. The first to be 
admitted was Vermont. During the Revolution, Vermont felt that 
she had a right to be a State, but she was not recognized as such be- 
cause her territory was claimed by New York. New York gave up 
this claim, and in 1791 Vermont entered the Union as the four- 
teenth State. By this time Kentucky (page 128) had greatly in- 
creased in population and was ready to be made a State. So in 1792 
she entered the Union as the fifteenth State. Tennessee (page 129) 
also was growing rapidly in population, and her people wanted to 
enter the Union. In 1796 their wish was granted, for in that year 
Tennessee became a State. So, when Adams took his seat as Presi- 
dent, there were sixteen States in the Union and sixteen stars on the 
flag. 



176 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



The largest cities. In 1800 the United States was a farming 
country, and nearly everybody lived on farms. Cities were few and 
far between. To-day if you should travel from Maine to Georgia^ 
you would pass through more than a hundred cities. In 1800 a man 
traveling over the same ground passed through only five cities: Bos- 
ton, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston. These were 
the only large towns in the United States. And even they were not 
very large, for, if all five had been put together, they would not have 
made a city as large as Denver or St. Paul. 




The city of Washington in 1800. 



The city of Washington in the days of John Adams. The city 
of Washington, the great capital of which we are now so proud, in 
the days of John Adams was a mere village. The only fine build- 
ings in the place were the Capitol and the President's house, the build- 
ing which we now call the White House. The little capital was built 
in a forest, and the streets were merely roads cut through the woods. 
On the great street which we now call Pennsylvania Avenue, boys 
were still shooting partridges and squirrels. Even the White House 
was not finished when President and Mrs. Adams moved into it. 



IN THE DAYS OF JOHN ADAMS 



^77 



The backward condition of cities. Our cities in 1800 were not 
only few in number and small in population, but they were uncomfort- 
able places in which to live. There were no sidewalks, no well-paved 
streets, no trolley-cars. At night the streets were very dark, for the 
only lights were dingy oil-lamps. The danger of fire was great, for 
the means of fighting it were very poor. The only fire-engine was a 
pump worked by hand. There were no letter-boxes in which mail 
could be placed for collection, and 
no letter-carriers to bring letters to 
one's door. 

Houses without modern con- 
veniences. Inside the houses, 
everything was as plain and as sim- 
ple in 1800 as it was in colonial 
times. They were not heated by 
steam or furnaces, nor were they 
lighted by gas. There was no 
bath-room, and there were no pipes to carry water through the house. 
Most of the cooking was done at fire-places, but there were no matches 
for lighting the fire. Such a thing as a telephone, or an electric light, 
or a sewing-machine had never been seen. So you see that the houses 
in 1800 had few of the modern conveniences. 

Travel in 1800. The traveler in 1800 made his journey on a 
sail-boat or in a stage-coach. Steamboats and railroads were still 
unknown. The roads everywhere were bad. Sometimes the mud in 
the road was so deep that passengers had to get out of the coach and 
help the driver push the wheels along. There were few bridges across 
streams and rivers, so the driver often had to take his coach through 
the water. Sometimes driver, coach, horses, and all were swept 
down the stream by a swift-flowing current. In some parts of the 




An old time fire-engii 



178 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



country the forests were still standing, and were as wild in the days 
of John Adams as they had been in the days of John Smith. As there 
were no roads through them, it was very easy for the traveler to lose 
his way. Once (in 1800) Mrs. Abagail Adams, the wife of Presi- 
dent Adams was lost in the woods while on her way from Baltimore 
to Washington. 

The beginnings of Ohio. Rufus Putnam. Yet in spite of the 
bad roads there was a great deal of travel in the days of John Adams. 
Thousands of pioneers made their way westward over the Alleghanies 
to the Northwest Territory, where other pioneers were building up the 




A coach in the days of John Adams. 

State of Ohio. The great leader in Ohio in the early days was Rufus 
Putnam, one of the soldiers of the Revolution, who had helped Wash- 
ington to drive the British troops out of Boston (page 145). In the 
spring of 1788 Putnam and about fifty companions from New England 
floated down the Ohio River in rude boats, which they had. built with 
their own hands, and landed at the mouth of the Muskingum River. 
Here Putnam and his companions built some houses and gave the 
settlement the name of Marietta. A few months later another band 
of pioneers began a settlement which in time became the great city of 
Cincinnati. 



IN THE DAYS OF JOHN ADAMS 



179 



After this the settlement of the country north of the Ohio began in 
earnest. Flat-boats by the hundred floated down the river, carrying 
settlers and cattle and household goods, and in a few years the north 
bank was dotted with towns. 

In the last lesson you learned how these Ohio pioneers were attacked 
by the Indians, and how General Wayne marched against the red men 
and defeated them at Fallen Timbers (p. 171). After that the settle- 
ment went on faster than ever. Town after town was built. Dayton 
was founded in 1795, and in 1796 the first houses in Cleveland were 




A flat-boat on the Ohio. 

built. By the year 1800 there were 40,000 people in the territory 
northwest of the Ohio River. 

The Frontier Line in 1800. So by 1800 the pioneers had car- 
ried the Frontier Line far west of the Alleghanies. On a map of the 
United States, beginning at Oswego, New York, draw a line to Buffalo, 
to Cleveland, to Cincinnati, to Louisville, to Nashville, to Savannah. 
This line will mark the Frontier Line in 1800 and will show you what 
part of our country had been settled by white men in the days of 
John Adams. Compare the location of this Frontier Line of 1800 



i8o FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

with the location of the Frontier Line in 1750 (see the double paged 
map between pages 176 and 177) and you will understand how great 
was the work done by the pioneers in the west between 1750 and 1800. 

1. What was the career of John Adams before he became President? 

2. Why did Adams prepare to make war against France? 

3. What three States were admitted into the Union while Washington was Presi- 
dent? Which was the first to be admitted? 

4. Name our five largest cities in 1800. 

5. Describe the city of Washington in the days of John Adams. 

6. What kind of places were our cities in 1800? 

7. Describe the houses of 1800. 

8. What were the conditions of travel in 1800? 

9. Give an account of the beginning and of the growth of Ohio. 

10. Describe the Frontier Line in 1800. 



LESSON XXIX 



PRESIDENT JEFFERSON AND PRESIDENT MADISON 



Where was Thomas Jefferson born? In what year and on what day did he die? 
In what year and on what day did John Adams die? Where is Tripoli? What 
States are between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains? What does 
the word impressment mean? What States border upon Canada? Define the 
word " broadside." Read in the class The Star-Spangled Banner. 

'Jefferson's career. When the term of John Adams came to an 
end on March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson took his seat as the third 
President. When Jefferson went to the little city of Washington 
to be inaugurated, he was already one of the 
greatest men of the country. He had been 
a leader in the Revolution ; he had written the 
Declaration of Independence (p. 143) ; he had 
been Secretary of State while Washington 
was President (p. 168). 

Why the people liked Jefferson. In 
Jefferson's time all men did not have the 
right to vote, and only a part of the people 
had a voice in matters of government. Jeff- 
erson thought that the people should rule, 
and that their wishes should be carried out by 

the officers of the Government. He also declared that every man 
should have the right to vote. Because he believed these things, the 
people felt that he was their friend, and they liked him very much. 

181 




Thomas Jefiferson. 



i82 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

The purchase of Louisiana. The greatest thing done by Jeffer- 
son while President was to buy Louisiana from France. You remem- 
ber that, after the French were driven out of America, all the coun- 
try west of the Mississippi River was given to Spain (p. 123), though 
it was still called Louisiana. But in the year 1800 this great territory 
was given back to France. Now Jefferson did not want such a pow- 
erful nation to be our neighbor on the west. So when he found in 
1803 that France would sell Louisiana to the United States for 
$15,000,000, he was only too glad to buy it. The purchase of Louis- 
iana was one of the great events in our history, for it carried our 
western boundary to the far-off Rocky Mountains, and it gave the 
United States nearly a million square miles of new territory, making 
our country twice as large as it was before. 

The impressment of sailors. During Jefferson's term we con- 
tinued to have a great deal of trouble with France and England. 
These two nations were again at war, and, while striking blows at 
each other, they often struck the United States. Both seized Ameri- 
can vessels on the ocean, and sometimes treated them in a shameful 
manner. England gave us the most trouble. She stopped our ships 
and searched them to find out if there were any English sailors on 
board. An officer of an English vessel would go on board an Ameri- 
can vessel and order the crew to come on the deck and stand in a row. 
Every man in the crew was then examined and whenever a British 
sailor was found he was seized and carried away. This was called 
impressment. Very often even native-born Americans were impressed 
in this way and compelled to serve in the British navy. Of course 
this made the people of the United States very angry. They were 
willing that England should have her own sailors but they were 
not willing that she should impress American sailors. Jefferson did 
what he could to remedy the evil, but he could do very little, for Eng- 



PRESIDENT JEFFERSON AND PRESIDENT MADISON 183 



land had the most powerful navy in the world and on the ocean 
she could do as she pleased. 

Jefferson elected for a second term; but refuses a third term. 
In 1804 Jefferson was reelected. When his second term came to an 
end, the people wanted him to serve still longer, but Jefferson did not 
think it wise that a President should hold office for three terms. 
So he followed the example set by Washington (p. 173) and refused a 
third term. He said, however, that he would like to see his friend, 
James Madison, of Virginia, elected President. 

James Madison is elected President. Madison was a famous- 
lawyer, and he knew a great deal about government. He had been 
a member of the Convention which drew up 
the Constitution (p. 164), and he had worked 
for it so faithfully and well that he was called 
the Father of the Constitution. He was thor- 
oughly informed, also, about foreign affairs, 
having served in Jefferson's cabinet as the 
Secretary of State. In fact, Madison was al- 
most as great a man as Jefferson himself. 
The wish of President Jefferson that Madison 
might be chosen to succeed him had great in- 
fluence with the people, and in 1809 Madison 
became the fourth President. Four years 
later he was elected for a second term. 

Madison is forced into a war with England. Madison v^as a 
great lover of peace. It was said of him that he was so fond of 
peace that he could not be kicked into war. But in spite of this, in 
181 2, he was forced into a war with England, for that nation con- 
tinued to capture American ships and to take sailors from the decks 
of American vessels. 




James Madison 



184 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Fighting along the Canadian border and on Lake Erie. The 

War of 1812 began with fighting along the Canadian border, for 
Canada belonged to England then as it does now. Sometimes the 
fighting was on Canadian soil and sometimes it was on American soil. 
Sometimes the Americans won and sometimes the British won. But 
the Americans did not get possession of Canada nor did the British 
get possession of any of our territory. So nothing was settled by the 
fighting along the Canadian border, although it lasted for two years. 




In 181 3 there was a hard- 
fought battle on Lake Erie. 
The American ships were com- 
manded by Oliver Hazard Perry, 
a young man only twenty years of age. Perry fought on his own sl»ip 
until it was about to sink, and then managed to get aboard another 



PRESIDENT JEFFERSON AND PRESIDENT MADISON 185 

vessel. He kept up the fight until the British fleet surrendered. In re- 
porting his great victory, he simply said : *' We have met the enemy, 
and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." 
Constitution and the Guerriere. During this War of 181 2 there 
was also a great deal of fighting on the ocean, where our navy won for 
itself much glory. The greatest battle on the sea was fought by the 
British ship, the Guerriere (gare-e-are) and the American ship, the 
Constitution, sometimes called Old Ironsides. These two vessels met 
off the Banks of Newfoundland in August, 181 2. The British began 




The British burning the Capitol. 

to fire first. Captain Isaac Hull, the commander of the Constitution, 
let his guns remain silent until he had brought his vessel into a posi- 
tion where every shot would tell. Then he opened fire, pouring 
broadside after broadside into the Guerriere, sweeping her deck with 
shot and cutting her masts and rigging to pieces. In half an hour 
the British ship was helpless, and was forced to surrender. The Con- 
stitution was scarcely hurt at all. In a few hours she sailed away 
ready for another fight. 

The British ravage the Atlantic seaboard. In the War of 181 2 



i86 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



the enemy attacked us at many places along the Atlantic coast. In 
Virginia and Maryland they burnt our villages, bridges, and farm- 
houses, and robbed the farmers of their slaves and cattle and grain. 
At Washington they burnt the Capitol and the White House. This 
was a disgraceful thing to do, but the British tried to excuse them- 
selves by saying that American soldiers had burned public buildings 
in Canada, and that turn about v^as fair play. After the capture of 
Washington the British marched to Baltimore and began to bombard 
Fort McHenry, which had been built to defend the city. The bom- 
bardment lasted all day and far into 
the night, and was watched by Fran- 
cis Scott Key. In the morning Key 
saw that our flag was still waving over 
the fort. This meant that the attack 
against it had failed. Key was so 
overjoyed that he felt that he must 
express his feelings in some way, so 
he took from his pocket an old letter 
and wrote upon it the words of our national song, " The Star-Spangled 
Banner." 

The Battle 
hardest fighting 




Key writing " The Star-Spangled Banner." 



of 



New Orleans. The greatest battle and the 
in the War of 1812 was at New Orleans. In 
December, 18 14, the British attacked the city with a large 
army, but General Andrew Jackson, of whom we shall hear a 
great deal in the lessons that are to follow, was on the ground 
ready to meet the foe. He had thrown up a kind of wall or breast- 
work made partly of mud and partly of bales of cotton; and in his 
army there were many riflemen from Tennessee and Kentucky. These 
men could shoot so well that they seldom missed any object at which 
they fired. 



PRESIDENT JEFFERSON AND PRESIDENT MADISON 187 

On January 8, 181 5, the enemy undertook to drive Jackson's men 
from their breastwork. The British soldiers wore bright red coats, 
which were excellent marks for the riflemen. When the British made 
the attack the Americans did not fire until the redcoats were close at 
hand. Then the riflemen began to shoot, and at almost every shot 
an English soldier fell. The British pressed on bravely, but they could 
not stand the deadly fire of the Americans. They broke ranks and 
fled. Thus General Jackson won the battle at New Orleans, and his 
victory made him the hero of the American people. 

The treaty of peace; results of the war of 181 2. Two weeks 
before the battle of New Orleans occurred, Great Britain and the 
United States had made a treaty of peace. If there had been such a 
thing as a telegraph, the battle of New Orleans would never have 
been fought, for, when it took place, the Americans and the British 
were no longer enemies. But the soldiers at New Orleans did not 
know this, for the ship that was bringing the news was still in mid- 
ocean. When the good tidings reached America it made President 
Madison very glad, for he knew that the country was tired of war. 

Very little was settled by the War of 18 12, or by the treaty 
which brought the war to an end. Great Britain did not promise to 
stop searching our ships and impressing our sailors, and neither nation 
gained or lost any territory by the war. Still, Great Britain treated us 
better than she had before the war, for she never again interfered with 
American vessels. So, as a matter of fact, the War of 181 2 gave our 
ships the freedom of the seas and our sailors the rights to which they 
were justly entitled. 

1. What was Jefferson's career before he became President? Why was he liked 
by the people? 

2. W^hat can you say about the purchase of Louisiana? 

3. Tell about the impressment of sailors. 

4. Why did Jefferson refuse a third term? 



i88 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

5. Tell what you can about James Madison ? 

6. Why did we go to war with England in 1812? 

7. Give an account of the fighting along the Canadian border and on Lake Erie. 

8. Describe the battle between the Constitution and the Guerriere. 

9. Tell the story of how the British ravaged the Atlantic coast. 

10. Under what circumstances was the Star-Spangled Banner written? 

11. Describe the battle of New Orleans. 

. 12. Why was the battle fought after a treaty of peace was made? 
13. What was the chief result of the War of 1812? 



LESSON XXX 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. ROBERT FULTON 



Describe the Wabash River. Locate Chicago ; Vincennes, Indiana ; Vevay, 
Indiana. What is a prophet? Describe the Tippecanoe River. Define mechanics; 
inventor. Name the rivers that flow into the Ohio. Name the rivers that flow into 
the Mississippi. 

While Jefferson and Madison were having so much trouble with 
England, and while our soldiers and sailors were fighting so bravely 
on land and on sea in the War of 1812, pioneers were all the time 
moving out from the older States and finding homes in the western 








Cincinnati in 1800. 

country. Between 1800 and 1820, more than a million white men 
made the long journey over the mountains and settled in the West 
and the Southwest. During these years three new States grew up in 
the wilderness north of the Ohio River, 

Ohio. The first of these was the State of Ohio, the early history 

i8q 



190 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



of which we have already learned. We saw how the Indians stood 
in the way of the Ohio pioneer (p. 171), and we saw how fast the 
population increased after the Indians were driven away (p. 178). 
It grew so large that soon the people of Ohio felt that they ought to 
be allowed to enter the Union. So in 1803 Ohio was admitted as the 
seventeenth State. 

Indiana Territory. The warrior Tecumseh. While pioneers 
were pushing out into Ohio, they were also pushing out into Indiana. 
Two years before Ohio entered the Union, Indiana was made a Ter- 
ritory, with General William Henry Harrison as her first governor. 
The capital was Vincennes, a little town on the Wabash River. 

When Indiana became a Territory, most of her land was held by the 
Indians. Governor Harrison wanted it for the white men, but he did 
not wish to take it from the Indians by force. So in 1809 he bought 
30,000,000 acres from the Shawnee Indians, for which he paid them 
$10,000. 

c- ^'. -^.r-^i^-rw^^w-^-^'?-.-^ Among the Shawnees there 

was a warrior named Te- 
cumseh, who did not think the 
sale a fair and honest one. 
He declared that the chiefs 
who had made the bargain had 
been bribed, and made drunk 
by the bad whisky given to 
them by the white men. 
When he was a child, his fa- 
ther had been killed by white 
men who came into his coun- 
try. So Tecumseh hated the whites, and he made up his mind that 
he would get back the land which the chiefs had sold. 







Tecumseh and General Harrison 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. ROBERT FULTON 191 

In 18 10 Tecumseh went to Vincennes to talk with Governor Har- 
rison about the land. The governor received the warrior kindly and 
asked him to take a seat on the porch. But Tecumseh proudly re- 
fused the seat, saying that Indians always held their meetings in the 
open air. Harrison then went out and talked with Tecumseh on 
the lawn in front of the house. As they talked, four hundred Indian 
warriors stood around them in a circle. Tecumseh made a long speech. 
He told of the wrongs which his people had suffered at the hands of 
the white men, and he asked Governor Harrison to take pity on the 
red people and give them back their lands. But the governor told 
Tecumseh that the white men had bought the lands fairly, and he would 
not give them up. 

Tecumseh was greatly disappointed, and went away with a heart 
full of bitterness. He felt that the Indians ought to unite and drive 
the white men out of the western country. So he went about among 
the various tribes and urged them to prepare for a great war. With 
some brave warriors he made a journey to the South, where also there 
were many Indians who hated the whites. He went among them and 
made speeches, asking them to join him in the war. 

Governor Harrison defeats the Indians at Tippecanoe. But 
while Tecumseh was absent on this errand, his people in Indiana suf- 
fered a terrible blow. Tecumseh had a brother known as the Prophet, 
who gave the settlers almost as much trouble as Tecumseh himself. 
In 181 1 the Prophet collected a band of warriors around him in a 
town on the banks of the Tippecanoe River. Many of the Indians of 
Tippecanoe were worthless fellows, and some were guilty of stealing 
horses and murdering white men. Governor Harrison asked the 
Prophet to surrender the horse-thieves and murderers. But the 
messengers of the governor were insulted, and the guilty Indians were 
not given up. Governor Harrison now made up his mind that the 



192 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Prophet and his band must be punished. At the head of an army 
he marched to Tippecanoe and gave the red men battle. Tecumseh 
was not present to lead the Indians, and the Prophet was not a good 
fighter. So they were defeated. Those who were not killed fled 
from Indiana, and looked for hunting-grounds in the country farther 
west. The white men were greatly pleased by what Governor Har- 
rison had done, and he became known as the hero of Tippecanoe. 




Along the Ohio River: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. 



The people of the West need a good kind of boat. Now that 
the Indians were out of the way, the pioneers could build their cabins 
and till their fields in peace. The land was very rich, and it was easy 
to raise large crops of wheat and corn. Indeed, the farmers soon 
found they were raising more grain than they could sell, because they 
could not ship it to a market. No canals or railroads had yet been built 
in the western country. There were many fine rivers, but few sail- 
boats, for sail-boats do not move easily in narrow streams. There 
were many flat-boats on the western rivers, but these were clumsy and 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. ROBERT FULTON 



^93 



slow. What the people of Ohio and Indiana needed was a boat that 
would carry heavy burdens and move swiftly and easily in narrow 
streams. 

Robert Fulton invents the steamboat. Robert Fulton, of New 
York, gave the farmers of the West the kind of boat they needed. 
Fulton was an artist, but he was very fond of mechanics. When a 
boy, he was always trying to make some kind of a machine. At the 
age of fourteen he designed a boat with paddle-wheels on the side, 
which were to be worked by turning a crank. When he reached man- 




The Clermont on its first trip up the Hudson. 

hood, he went to England, where inventors were trying to run vessels 
by steam. 

Young Fulton closely watched these experiments, and, when he re- 
turned to the United States, his head was full of plans for a steam- 
boat. He was poor, but a friend furnished him with money to carry 
out his ideas. So he built a steamboat called the Clermont. In 1807 
the Clermont made a trip on the Hudson River from New York to 
Albany, a distance of 150 miles. The voyage up-stream to Albany was 



194 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

made in thirty-two hours, and down-stream back to New York in 
thirty hours. This was much faster than any boat had ever sailed 
on the Hudson, and soon everybody was talking about Fulton and his 
wonderful steamboat. 

This was just the kind of boat the people of the West needed, and 
soon the new kind of vessel was seen on the western rivers. In 1811 
a steamboat was built on the Ohio, and within a few years dozens of 
them were puffing along on that river and on the Mississippi, carrying 
to market the crops which the farmers raised, and passengers as well. 

Indiana Territory becomes a State. After the steamboat ap- 
peared the settlement of the West went on faster than ever. In In- 
diana, towns and villages grew so rapidly that people could hardly 
believe their eyes. In 181 3 there was only a single hut on the spot 
where the town of Vevay now stands. Three years later, a man 
traveling down the Ohio stopped at Vevay and found a well built town 
with a court-house, a school-house, a public library, stores, hotels, and 
nearly a hundred dwellings. In one year — 18 16 — forty thousand 
settlers went out to Indiana and found homes for themselves. By 
this time Indiana desired to enter the Union ; and no wonder, for the 
population of the Territory was nearly 100,000. The wish of her 
people was granted, and in 181 6 Indiana became a State. 

Illinois. At the time Indiana w^as growing so rapidly, Illinois 
was also filling up with settlers. These pioneers were not greatly dis- 
turbed by the Indians, for after the red men were defeated at Tippe- 
canoe, they moved to the country west of the Mississippi. Before they 
left Illinois, however, they struck one heavy blow at the white man. 
During the War of 1812 they attacked Fort Dearborn, which stood 
where the city of Chicago now is, and killed in a most cruel manner 
more than fifty soldiers and a number of helpless women and children. 

Illinois was made a Territory in 1809, but its population grew so 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. ROBERT FULTON 195 

fast that in a few years it was ready to be a State, and was admitted 
into the Union in 1818. 

Thus by the hard labor of the pioneers, by the firmness of Governor 
Harrison in deaHng with the Indians, and by Fulton's invention of 
the steamboat, the country north of the Ohio was settled in a few 
short years and the three great States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois 

("") "-^ - 



<~^l^}iim'0--'ii--^^ 



ii'^*=%=r,; 




y^^^^ 



Fort Dearborn, winch stood where the city of Chicago now is. 

were built up. And what a wonderful change was made in this part 
of the western country by the coming of the white man! Before 
he came, the region north of the Ohio was a place of forests and 
Indians and wild beasts. After he came, the Indians and wild beasts 
disappeared, forests were cleared away, the land was cultivated, and 
towns and cities were built. 

1. When was Ohio admitted into the Union? 

2. When was Indiana made a Territory? Who was the first governor of the 
Territory? 

3. Who was Tecumseh, and why did he declare war against the whites? 

4. Tell the story of the defeat of the Indians at Tippecanoe. 
5'. Why were the people of the West unable to sell their grain? 

6. Tell the story of Fulton and his steamboat. 

7. What can you say of the steamboat on western rivers? 

8. What can you say of the growth of Indiana in the earl}^ days? 

9. Give the early history of Illinois. 



LESSON XXXI 

ELI WHITNEY. ANDREW JACKSON 

Name the States that border on the Gulf of Mexico. Where is Yale College? 
What is a tutor? Define fiber. Trace on a map of the United States the 33rd 
parallel of latitude. Describe the Tallapoosa River ; the Alabama River. 




While the pioneers were fighting with the Indians and settHng the 
country north of the Ohio River, other pioneers were fighting with the 
Indians and settling the country around the Gulf of Mexico. In this 
lesson you are to learn how three great States arose out of the wilder- 
ness in the Southwest between 1800 and 1820. 

Eli Whitney; the cotton-gin. In the last lesson we saw that a 

great invention — the steamboat — helped 
to build up the country north of the Ohio. 
Another great invention helped to build up 
the country around the Gulf of Mexico. 
This was the cotton-gin. The inventor 
was Eli Whitney. Whitney was born in 
Massachusetts in 1765. His father was a 
farmer, and it was in a workshop on his fa- 
ther's farm that Eli first learned the use of 
tools. At the age of nineteen he entered 
Yale College and graduated there in 
1792. 

After he had finished his course at Yale, 
Whitney went to Georgia and took a position as a tutor in a private 
family. While there he became acquainted with Mrs. Greene, the 

196 



Eli Whitney. 



ELI WHITNEY. ANDREW JACKSON 



197 




Picking cotton by hand. 



widow of that General Greene who fought so bravely in the Revolu- 
tion (p. 159). One day a number of planter^ who were visiting Mrs. 
Greene began to talk of the hard times they wei ' -^ving. They said 
they were not making any money, because they could not sell enough 
cotton. They could raise large quanti- 
ties of it but they could not clean it after 
it was raised. Before the cotton was 
ready for use, the seeds had to be sepa- 
rated from the fiber, and to do this re- 
quired a great deal of labor. The seeds 
had to be picked out by hand, and it 
took a slave a whole day to clean a single 

pound. While the planters were talking, one of them said he wished 
somebody would invent a machine that would clean cotton quickly 
and cheaply. " Gentlemen," said Mrs. Greene, '' ask my young friend, 
Mr, Whitney, to make the kind of machine you want — he can make 
anything." The planters then talked it over with the young man, 

who said he would try to make what 
they needed, although he had never 
in his life seen any cotton just as it 
came from the plant. 

Whitney obtained some cotton 
with the seeds in it, shut himself up 
in his room, and began to work on 
the machine. While he w'as busy at 
his task, nobody except Mrs. Greene 
For a whole winter he tinkered and ham- 
mered and sawed. When the machine was finished, Mrs. Greene asked 
some planters to come and see it at work. As they watched it, the 
planters saw that their problem had been solved, for the new machine 




Whitney's cotton-gin. 

was allowed to see him. 



198 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

cleaned as much in a minute as one pair of hands could do in an hour. 
W hitne}' called his invention the cotton-engine, but soon the word en- 
gine was shortened to " gin," and the machine became known as the 
cotton-gin. Whitney's great invention was completed in 1792, and 
within a very few years planters were raising ten times as much cotton 
as they raised before. 

Now that the planters could clean all the cotton they could grow, 
they began to plant larger and larger fields with it, and soon all the 
best cotton-land on the southern seaboard was brought under cultiva- 
tion. So they began to move, with their slaves, into the country 
around the Gulf of Mexico, where there was plenty of land to be 
had on which cotton could be raised. We must follow these planters 
into the Southland, and learn what they did for the region that lies 
about the great Gulf. 

The Louisiana Purchase. The story of the Southwest began 
with Louisiana. You remember that President Jefferson in 1803 
purchased Louisiana from France (p. 182). But the territory w'hich 
Jefferson bought included all the country between the Mississippi 
River and the Rocky Mountains, a tract much too large for a single 
State. So Louisiana was divided up, and out of the vast region 
w4iich Jefferson bought there have been carved the great States^ of 
Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North 
Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Minnesota, Colorado, Montana, 
Wyoming, and Oklahoma. 

The State of Louisiana. The first of these to become a State 
was Louisiana. Soon after Jefferson made the great purchase, he 
sent William Claiborne to New Orleans to take possession of 
Louisiana in the name of the United States. The people living in 
Xew Orleans were French, but they were willing to become citizens 
of the United States. So when Claiborne hauled down the French 



ELI WHITNEY. ANDREW JACKSON 



199 



flag which was waving over the city hall and raised the American 
flag in its place, the people of New Orleans were not very sorry, for 
they felt sure that they woiild be treated well by the United States. 

One of the first things done by the new government was to cut 
Louisiana into two parts. In 1804 the part that lies south of the 




statute Miles 



Around the Gulf of Mexico. 



33rd parallel of latitude was cut off from the main body of Louisiana 
and was made a Territory, called the Territory of Orleans. Its chief 
city was New Orleans. The land in the new Territory was good for 
raising sugar and cotton. So planters from the older States, who 
wanted more land for cotton, moved into the Territory of Orleans in 
great numbers. By 181 2 the population had grown to nearly 50,000. 



200 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Since this was large enough for a State, the Territory of Orleans was 
allowed to come into the Union, not as the State of Orleans, but as the 
State of Louisiana. 

The Creek Indians; Andrew Jackson. While the planters were 
moving down into Louisiana, bold pioneers were making a settle- 
ment in the wild region that lay to the east — a region that was soon 
to be the State of Mississippi. The Mississippi country was full of 
Indians. The settlers tried to live in peace with the red men, but 
they could not do so. You remember that in 1811 Tecumseh left 

Indiana and went south to plot 
against the whites (p. 191). He 
met the Creek Indians in one of 
their towns on the Tallapoosa 
River and made a great speech. 
He told them that his arm would 
appear in the heavens like a pillar 
of fire, and that, when they saw 
this, they must begin the war 
against the whites. Soon after 
Tecumseh made this speech, there 
was a heavy thunder-storm and of course there was much light- 
ning. The Creeks thought the lightning was Tecumseh's arm, and 
so they began the war upon the white man. In 18 13 a thousand 
painted warriors attacked Fort Mims, on the Alabama River. In 
the fort there were five hundred whites — men, women, and chil- 
dren. The Creeks marched silently upon the fort while the whites 
were eating their dinner. The surprise was complete, and in a few 
hours nearly every person in the fort was killed. 

But the Creeks were soon punished for their bloody work, for 
Andrew Jackson, a man of whom we have heard before (p. 187) and 




Tecumseh made a great speech to the Creeks. 



ELI WHITNEY. ANDREW JACKSON 



201 



of whom we shall hear again, marched against them with fifteen hun- 
dred of the best riflemen of Tennessee. He was suffering from a 
wound in the shoulder at the time, and he had to carry his arm in 
a sling. But this did not prevent him from pursuing the Creeks and 
defeating them wherever he met them. 

After the final defeat of the Creeks great streams of cotton plant- 
ers moved down into the Mississippi country, and 
in a few years two new States were built up. The 
first of these was Mississippi, which entered the 
Union in 1817; the second was Alabama, which 
was admitted in 1819. 

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama grew rap- 
idly in wealth and population, and soon thousands 
of plantations around the Gulf were white with cot- 
ton. For this wonderful growth the planters could 
thank Jackson, who taught the Indians of the South that they must 
let white men live in peace, and they could thank Eli Whitney, who 
gave them the cotton-gin and thus made it possible to raise cotton with 
profit. 




The cotton plant. 



1. Tell the story of Eli Whitney and the invention of the cotton-gin. 

2. Why, after the invention of the cotton-gin, did planters move down into the 
Southwest ? 

3. What States were carved out of the Louisiana Purchase? 

4. What was the early history of the State of Louisana? 

5. Tell how the Creek Indians made war upon the whites. 

6. Tell how Andrew Jackson punished the Creeks. 

7. What three States were built up around the Gulf of Mexico between 1800 and 
1820? What invention helped greatly in the growth of these States? 



LESSON XXXII 

THE LAND BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 

Trace the course of the Missouri River from its source to its mouth, naming the 
States through which and between which it flows. What is an explorer? Locate 
Bismarck, North Dakota. Describe the Clearwater River; the Snake River; the 
Columbia River. Locate Jefferson City, Missouri ; Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Daniel Boone finds " more elbow-room." In the last lesson you 
learned how the white man, between 1800 and 1820, carried his set- 
tlements as far west as the Mississippi River. But he did not stop 
there. Even before Jefferson bought Louisiana from the French, 
Americans had begun to cross the great stream and make settlements 
in the wilderness beyond. 

In 1799 Daniel Boone moved from his home in the Ohio Valley 
and settled on the banks of the Missouri River. Boone was now an 
old man ; but his body was still strong, and he could still bring down 
game with his trusty rifle. He left the Ohio Valley, he said, because 
there were too many people there. He sought a new home where he 
could have " more elbow-room." And surely he found it in the 
Missouri country, for he could hunt in the forest around him for 
hundreds of miles and for weeks at a time and not meet with a single 
white man. 

Lewis and Clark camp near the home of Boone. In 1804 a 
party of explorers camped near Boone's Lick, the place where Boone 
had built his home on the. Missouri. The explorers were led by Cap- 
tain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. These men had 

202 



THE LAND BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 



203 



been sent out by Jefferson with orders to follow the Missouri River 
to its source, to cross the Rocky Mountains, to find a river, if there 
was one, that flowed into the Pacific, and to follow that river to the 
sea. They were to make a careful study of the country through 
which they passed, and were to learn all they could about the Indians, 
the plants, and the animals. It was a wonderful experience which 
Lewis and Clark had before them, for they were to travel thousands 
of miles through a wilderness which had never before been looked 
upon by the eyes of white men. 

What Lewis and Clark saw on their journey. Late in the 
spring of 1804, Lewis and Clark left the Boone settlement and started 
on their long journey up the Missouri. As they moved along, things 
new and strange constantly greeted their eyes. On the shores of the 
river were delicious fruits — mulberries, currants, plums, raspberries, 
wild apples. Then, too, there was plenty of game — deer, elk, bear, 
and wild turkeys, geese, swans, and ducks. Buffaloes were seen in 
great numbers, and they were so tame and gentle that the travelers 
sometimes had to drive them out 



of their way with sticks and 
stones. One of the most inter- 
esting of the animals seen was 
the antelope. The flight of this 
animal seemed to the explorers 
to be like the flight of a bird. 
One day, Captain Clark saw 
seven antelopes on a ridge about 
two hundred yards away 







Antelopes. 

The animals caught sight of him and fled. 
Clark ran to the spot where the antelopes had stood, and behold, they 
were standing on another ridge three miles away ! 

The explorers spend the winter with the Indians ; grizzly bears. 



204 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



By November, 1804, Lewis and Clark had traveled sixteen hundred 
miles, and had made their way up the Missouri River as far as the 
country of the Dakotas. At a place not far from the present city of 
Bismarck the explorers built some huts which they called Fort Man- 
dan. Here they spent the winter. Many Indians came to the fort, 
and the white men and the red men became very good friends. The 
white men played upon their musical instruments, and the savages 
were delighted by the sounds of the violin and the flute. They in- 
vited the explorers to join them in a great buffalo-hunt, and Captain 
Clark went, with fifteen of his men, Clark himself killing ten buf- 
faloes. 

When spring came, the explorers broke camp and with light hearts 
set out again on their journey. They traveled in boats, still follow- 
ing the winding course of the Missouri. In the upper Missouri 
country they had many thrilling encounters with grizzly bears. Once 

six men, all of them good hunters, at- 
tacked a large grizzly. Four of them 
fired upon the bear, lodging four bul- 
lets in his body. This only made the 
brute furious, and he ran at the men 
with mouth wide open. The two 
other men now raised their guns and 
fired, but the bear did not halt. He 
dashed on and the men took to their 
heels. Two of them jumped down a bank twenty feet into the river. 
The bear sprang after them and was within a few feet of them when 
one of the hunters on shore shot the animal in the head and killed 
him. 

Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean. But the grizzly bears 
did not check the onward march of the explorers. On and on they 




They had thrilling encounters with grizzly 
bears. 




OUR C 




'^ IN 1820 



THE LAND BEYOND THE MISSISSH^PI 



205 



went, pushing farther and farther into the strange and wonderful 
land which stretched out toward the setting sun. It was early sum- 
mer when they came to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and be- 
fore the summer had ended they had toiled up the western slope 
of the Rockies and reached the high 
ridge which divides the waters that flow 
into the Atlantic from those that flow 
into the Pacific. 

They now found a stream that flowed 
down the western slope of the moun- 
tains. This was the Clearwater River. 
The Clearwater bore them to the Snake 
River, the Snake to the Columbia, and 
the Columbia to the Pacific. On the 8th 
of November, 1805, Captain Clark wrote 
in his diary : " Great joy in camp ! 
We are in view of the ocean which we 
have been so long anxious to see." The explorers had a right to re- 
joice for they had done something never before done by white men : 
they had traveled clear across the country which is now the United 
States. 

Missouri is settled and Boone longs for " more elbow-room." 
Lewis and Clark wrote an account of their travels, and many who 
read it turned their eyes toward the country beyond the Mississippi. 
Trappers and fur-traders followed the path made by the explorers, 
and it was not long before Americans were carrying on a fur trade 
in the far-off country called Oregon. Settlers in great numbers 
pushed out into the Missouri country, and in a few years there were 
so many of them in Missouri that Boone again began to wish for 
*' more elbow-room." Between 1810 and 1820 nearly 50,000 people 




We are in view of the ocean which we 
have been so long anxious to see." 



2o6 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

poured into Missouri, and in 1821 it was admitted as a State. In 
the same year Maine came into the Union. 

Changes between 1800 and 1820. In 1820, just before Missouri 
ceased to be a Territory, Daniel Boone passed away. When he died, 
he was in the eighty-sixth year of his age. The last twenty years 
of his life were spent in the country beyond the Mississippi. How 
wonderful were the changes which took place under the old man's 
eyes in those twenty years! In 1800 he saw a Union of sixteen 
States; in 1820 he saw a Union of twenty-two States, and if he had 
lived a few months longer he would have seen a Union of twenty- 
four States. In 1800 he saw only two States west of the AUeghanies ; 
in 1820 he saw there were eight States west of these mountains, and 
that within a few months there would be nine. And how fast the 
Frontier Line must have seemed to him to be moving during his last 
years! In 1800 the white man's settlements had just reached Cin- 
cinnati. Twenty years later the Frontier Line had crossed the 
Mississippi and had moved on to points as far west as Jefferson City, 
Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas. 

The movement of the Frontier Line between 1800 and 1820 is 
shown on the double-page map between pages 204 and 205. Study 
this map carefully and you will learn much of the wonderful growth 
of our country during the early years of the nineteenth century. 

1. Why did Daniel Boone move into the Missouri Country? 

2. What were Lewis and Clark ordered to do? 

3. What were some of the things seen by these men on this journey? 

4. Where and in what manner did the explorers spend the winter? 

5. Tell the story of the encounter with the grizzly bear. 

6. Where and at what point did they reach the Pacific? 

7. What was the early history of Missouri? 

8. What great changes took place in the United States between 1800 and 1820? 



LESSON XXXIII 



PRESIDENT MONROE 

Define the word statesman. Trace on the map the route of a traveler who starts 
at Washington, D. C, passes through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Trenton, New York, 
New Haven, Boston, Albany, Buffalo, and Detroit and returns to Washington. 
Define parallel, anti-slavery compromise. Name the principal countries of South 
America. 



In the last three lessons you learned of the growth of our country 
between 1800 and 1820. The men who were our Presidents during 
these wonderful years were Thomas Jeff- 
erson, James Madison, and James Mon- 
roe. You already know about Jefferson 
and Madison. In this lesson you are to 
learn about President Monroe. 

The career of Monroe. James Mon- 
roe was born in Westmoreland County, 
Virginia, near the place where Washing- 
ton w^as born and not far from the birth- 
place of Madison. Washington, Madi- 
son, and Monroe, therefore, were 
neighbors. When the War of the Revo- 
lution began, Monroe, at the age of 
eighteen, entered the American army. 
He was with Washington at the battle of Trenton, where he was 
wounded in the wrist. He fought in several other battles and was 

207 




Tames Monroe. 



2o8 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

known as a brave soldier. When he was still a very young man, 
he began to take part in public affairs. He was successful as a states- 
man and was elected and appointed to many important offices. He 
was governor of Virginia, a member of the United States Senate, 
and minister to France. It was he who helped Jefferson to buy 
Louisiana from France. 

When Madison became President, he chose Monroe as his Secre- 
tary of State. At the end of Madison's second term, in 1816, the 
people thought that Monroe was the best man to succeed him. So 
Monroe was elected President, and on the fourth of March, 181 7, 
he was inaugurated. In 1820 he was- elected for a second term. He 
was President, therefore, for eight years. 

Monroe journeys through the States. Soon after Monroe was 
inaugurated, he started from Washington on a journey which did 
not end until he had passed through most of the States of the Union. 
He visited Baltimore, Philadelphia, Trenton, New York, New Haven, 
Boston, Buffalo, Detroit. He was treated with great respect wher- 
ever he went, and honors were showered upon him. When he en- 
tered a city he was met by the leading citizens, bells were rung, and 
cannon were fired. At New York he heard a salute fired from two 
guns which were taken by the soldiers whom he commanded at the 
battle of Trenton. At Boston, regiments of soldiers and thousands 
of citizens on horseback and in carriages escorted him through the 
streets, while fifty thousand men, women, and children cheered him 
as he passed along. Why did all the people join in giving Monroe 
such a warm welcome, and why did they bestow upon him such great 
honors? Because the United States was now a great nation, and the 
people felt that it was their nation and that President Monroe was 
their President. 

Billy Bowlegs and Andrew Jackson. When Monroe returned 



PRESIDENT MONROE 



209 



to Washington after his long journey, he found plenty of work 
awaiting him. One of the first things he did was to make war upon 
the Seminole Indians. After the Creeks were defeated by Jackson 
(p. 200), some of the Creek warriors fled to Florida and joined the 
Seminoles, whose chief was Billy Bowlegs. With the Indians there 
were also about a thousand negro slaves who had escaped from their 
masters in Georgia. In 18 16 the Seminoles and these negroes, led 
by Billy Bowlegs, rushed up into Georgia and plundered the southern 
part of the State. They burned barns, drove off cattle, and killed 
several persons. The President decided that these outrages must 




They drove off the cattle. 

cease. He sent Andrew Jackson with a body of Tennessee riflemen 
against Billy Bowlegs and his lawless band, and it was not long be- 
fore the Seminoles were defeated in battle and brought to their senses. 
Monroe buys Florida from Spain. When Jackson marched into 
Florida against the Seminoles, he marched into a foreign country, 
for Florida at that time still belonged to Spain (p. 49). Under 
Spanish rule Florida was badly governed, and Monroe felt that it 
ought to belong to the United States. So he offered to buy it for 
$5,000,000. Spain accepted the offer, and in 18 19 Florida became a 
part of the United States. It was soon made a Territory and An- 



210 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



drew Jackson was appointed governor. After this the Seminoles 
gave no more trouble. Florida gradually increased in population,^ 
and in 1845 was admitted to the Union. 

The Missouri Compromise. By the time the Seminoles were 
put down and the Florida cjuestion settled, Monroe was having an- 
other troublesome matter to deal with. This was the slavery question. 
You remember that after the invention of the cotton-gin planters in 
great numbers moved down into the new States of the Southwest, 
taking their slaves with them. Some took their slaves across the 
Mississippi River and settled in the Missouri country. 

When the people of Missouri 
asked to be admitted to the Union 
(p. 206), the planters, of course, 
wanted Missouri to come in as a 
slave State. But there were many 
members of Congress who thought 
it was not right to own slaves, and 




these members were unwilling that 
Missouri should be admitted un- 
less it was made unlawful to hold 
slaves in the new State. They were 
willing that slavery should continue 
in those States in which it already 
existed, but they were unwilling 
that it should be permitted in any 
of the new States that were to be carved out of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase. On the other hand, many members of Congress saw nothing 
wrong in holding slaves, and were willing that slavery should exist in 
all these new States. 

When the question of admitting Missouri came up before Con- 



Negro slaves and their cabins. 



PRESIDENT MONROE 211 

gress, there was a long debate and a bitter quarrel. It happened 
that, at the very time that Missouri was asking to be admitted as a 
slave State, Maine was asking to be admitted as a free State, that is, 
as a State in which there were to be no slaves. But the Congressmen 
from the slave States said that Maine should not be admitted unless 
Missouri was admitted at the same time. 

The quarrel continued for many months, and at last was settled 
in the following way: Maine was admitted as a free State, and 
Missouri was admitted as a slave State, but it was provided that 
there should be no more slave States created out of any of the land 
of the Louisiana Purchase lying north of the parallel of 36° 30' 
north latitude. Find this parallel on a map of the United States, 
and you will see in what part of the country it was to be unlawful 
in the future to hold slaves. 

Because the law which admitted Missouri gave to the slave owners 
a part of what they asked for and gave to the anti-slavery people a 
part of what they asked for, it was called the Missouri Compromise. 
On March 2, 1820, the Missouri Compromise bill was passed, and 
the next day a bill was passed admitting Maine as a State. President 
Monroe signed the two bills, and thus the slavery question was settled 
for a time. 

The Monroe Doctrine. In 1823, President Monroe had to deal 
with a serious question relating to the countries of South America. 
You will remember that all South America except Brazil (p. 22) \vas 
claimed by Spain. For three hundred years the countries of South 
America — Buenos Aires (now Argentine), Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and 
the others were governed by Spain as colonies, just as the colonies 
of North America were governed by England. But in the early 
years of the nineteenth century these countries began to break away 
from the mother country and declare their independence, and by 



212 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

1820, Spain had lost nearly all her colonies in the Western Hemi- 
sphere. 

In 1823, however, it seemed that some of the great countries of 
Europe were planning to help Spain to regain her lost colonies. This 
meant that these countries were planning to send soldiers to South 
America and conquer the countries that had won their independence. 
Monroe did not want to see this done. He did not wish to have the 
nations of Europe meddle in the affairs of the Western Continent, 
for he was afraid if they did so that they would take possession of 
South America and also of Mexico, and would prove dangerous 
neighbors to the United States. 

So Monroe in 1823 sent a message to Congress, and in it he said 
that there were three things that the rulers of Europe must plainly 
understand: First, that the countries on the American continent 
were free and independent, and that they should remain so; second, 
that in the future no European country should plant any colony on 
the American continent; and third, that, if the countries of Europe 
attempted to extend their power anywhere on the American con- 
tinent, the United States would regard them as enemies. When the 
rulers of Europe heard about the President's message, they gave up 
their plan of helping Spain. So the countries of South America were 
not disturbed. The people of the United States were pleased with 
what Monroe said to Congress, and the words of his message have 
become known as the Monroe Doctrine. To this day, the people of 
the United States believe that the Monroe Doctrine is sound. 

What was done while Monroe was President. Monroe's ad- 
ministration came to an end in 1825. During the eight years in 
which he had been President, Arkansas had been made a Territory 
(in 1819), Missouri and Maine had been made States, Florida had 
been bought from Spain and made a part of the United States, the 



PRESIDENT MONROE 213 

Missouri Compromise had been agreed upon, and the Monroe Doc- 
trine had been proclaimed. Moreover, during this " era of good feel- 
ing " the country had enjoyed great prosperity and had grown rapidly 
in wealth and population. So when Monroe left the White House, 
in 1825, almost everybody felt that he had been a good President. 

1. What can you say of the public career of Monroe before he became President? 

2. Tell the story of Monroe's journey through the States. 

3. Give an account of the trouble with the Seminole Indians. 

4. Under what circumstances did the United States get possession of Florida? 

5. What question concerning slavery arose when Missouri asked to be admitted as 
a State? How was the question settled? 

6. What is meant by the Monroe Doctrine? What caused Monroe to announce 
this doctrine? 

7. What important things were done while Monroe was President? 



LESSON XXXIV 

IN THE DAYS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

When and where was John Quincy Adams born? What does the word era mean? 
Locate Cumberland, Maryland; WheeHng, West Virginia. Trace upon a map the 
route of the Erie Canal. Name the cities situated upon this canal. How far is it 
from Buffalo to Albany? How far is it from Albany to New York? How long 
would it take to travel from Albany to Buffalo at the rate of four miles an hour? 
Trace upon a map the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Trace the route of 
the New York Central Railroad. Tell what you can about George Stephenson, the 
founder of railways. 

John Quincy Adams. In 1824, when the second term of Monroe 
was about to end, it became necessary to elect a new President. Of 

the five who had thus far been elected, all 
except John Adams had come from Vir- 
ginia. Many people were beginning to 
feel that Virginia was having more than 
her share of such honors. John Adams, 
of Massachusetts, wanted his son, John 
Quincy Adams, to be elected, but he felt 
there was no hope as long as any one in 
l^ Virginia wanted the office. " There will 
be no chance for my son," he said mourn- 
fully, " until all the Virginians are in the 
uincy . ams. gravcyard." But John Adams cried out 

before he was hurt, for he lived to see his son chosen as President to 
succeed Monroe. 

214 




IN THE DAYS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 215 

John Quincy Adams was inaugurated on March 4, 1825. He was 
as well fitted for his high office as any man that ever sat in the Presi- 
dential chair. He had a great mind, and he was honest, brave, in- 
dustrious, and conscientious. He had held many important public 
offices, and he filled all of them well. He had served as Secretary of 
State under Monroe. When Adams entered upon his duties as Presi- 
dent, he found that the " era of good feeling " which existed in the 
days of Monroe was passing away, and that a time of bad feeling 
was ahead. He wanted to do many good things for the country; 
but Congress would not help him, and without the help of Congress 
a President can do very little. So he failed to do many of the things 
that he earnestly wished to do. 

The National Road. President Adams was greatly interested 
in the building of canals and roads. He wanted to see the seaboard 
States connected with the Western States by good roads and canals, 
so that travel between the East and the West might be more com- 
fortable and freight carried at cheaper rates. At the beginning of 
his presidency there was only one good road leading from the East 
to the West. This was a turnpike which ran from Baltimore to Fred- 
erick City, Maryland, to Cumberland, Maryland, and on to the town 
of Wheeling, which was then in Virginia. The part of this road 
which lay between Cumberland and Wheeling was known as the 
National Road, because it was built by money furnished by the Na- 
tional Government. Adams wanted Congress to vote money to build 
more national roads and to construct canals between important places. 
But Congress refused to do this, and he was unable to carry out his 
plans. 

De Witt Clinton and the Erie Canal. But the work which the 
President wished to do and could not was undertaken by other men. 
Foremost among them was De Witt Clinton, the governor of New 



2l6 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



York. Clinton was one of the greatest men of his day. He saw that 
the people of eastern New York ought to have better means of com- 
munication with the West, so he persuaded the New York legislature 
to give the money necessary for building a canal from Albany to 
Buffalo. 




Erie Canal, Pennsylvania Canal, and Baltimore and Ohio Railway 

In 1817 the work was begun, and in 1825 the "big ditch," known 
as the Erie Canal, was completed. It was a great day in New York 
when the new waterway was opened. The celebration began at Buf- 
falo. All along the canal from Buffalo to Albany and all along the 



IN THE DAYS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 217 

Hudson River from Albany down to the sea cannon had been placed, 
and at the moment when the canal was opened at Buffalo the cannon 
began to open their throats, carrying the news along the whole length 
of the canal and down the Hudson to New York City. When the 
last cannon was fired at the Battery, a return salute was given and 
the news was carried back to Buffalo that the people of New York 
had heard that the canal was opened. Starting at Buffalo, a fleet of 
boats with the Seneca Chief at their head moved eastward along the 
canal, and, as they passed, they were greeted at tow^n after town by 
bands of music and by the cheers of thousands who stood on the 
banks. When the fleet reached New York City, almost everybody 
turned out to welcome it. On board the Seneca Chief there was a 
keg which had been filled with water taken from Lake Erie. When 
the fleet reached Sandy Hook, Governor Clinton took the keg and 
poured its contents into the sea. Then the governor announced that 
the waters of the Great Lakes were married to the waters of the 
Atlantic Ocean and that the Erie Canal was open to travel and to 
trade. Within a year after this opening the canal was alive with thou- 
sands of boats and rafts. 

What the Erie Canal did for the country. The people of New 
York did well to rejoice at the opening of the canal, for it was the 
greatest event in the history of their State, and one of the greatest 
in the history of our country. For what did the Erie Canal do for 
New York and for the country ? 

In the first place, it gave the people an easier and better way of 
traveling. Passenger-boats, called packets, were placed on the canal. 
These packets were fitted up with berths and dining-rooms. Travel 
on the canal was slow, to be sure, for the boats were drawn by horses 
or mules at the rate of only four miles an hour, but the journey was 
pleasant and agreeable. In fine weather the travelers sat on the roof 



2l8 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




In fine weather the travelers sat on the 
roof of the packet. 



of the packet and talked, read, and played cards, or amused them- 
selves in various other ways. 

In the second place, the Erie Canal reduced the cost of carrying 
goods. Before it was opened it cost nearly one hundred dollars to 

carry a ton of freight from New 
York City to Buffalo; after the canal 
was opened, it could be carried for 
twenty dollars. 

But the most important thing done 
by the Erie Canal was to help in the 
building up of the West. Before 
the canal came, western New York 
was still a forest, but in a few years 
after the waterway was opened this 
forest was cleared away and western New York '' blossomed as 
the rose." Soon beautiful towns and cities — Rome, Syracuse, 
Rochester, Buffalo — appeared upon the banks, like '' pearls upon a 
string." 

Michigan and Arkansas. The influence of the canal extended 
beyond western New York. The new waterways hastened the 
growth of the States that border upon the Great Lakes. Northern 
Ohio, of course, felt its influence first, then Michigan, to which emi- 
grants from New England and New York went out by the thou- 
sands and tens of thousands. They filled up the country so fast 
that in a few years Michigan had a population of 100,000 souls, and, 
in 1837, was admitted into the Union as a free State. It was the 
custom of Congress, when it admitted a free State, to admit, at 
about the same time, a slave State also. Accordingly, in 1836, Arkan- 
sas was admitted as a slave State, in order to offset the admission of 
Michigan, which was about to come in as a free State. 



IN THE DAYS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 



219 



The first railroads. While John Quincy Adams was President, 
the first railroads in the United States were built. At first, the rails 
were made of wood, and the cars were drawn by horses. But soon 
strips of iron were fastened to the wooden rails, and the cars were 
drawn by locomotives. 

In 1828 Charles Carroll, of Maryland, a very old man, who had 
signed the Declaration of Independence, broke the ground for a steam 
railway that was to connect the city of Baltimore and Ellicott Mills. 
The length of this road was about thirteen miles, and the locomotive 




A train on an early railroad. 



that drew the first train was built by Peter Cooper, of New York. 
In 1830 Cooper's locomotive was put upon the tracks of the new road, 
and a trial trip w^as made. The trip was successful, although it took 
an hour and twelve minutes to run the thirteen miles. After this, 
other railroads were built in different parts of the United States and 
within a few years there were more than twenty carrying freight and 
passengers. 

Andrew Jackson. Thus, while John Quincy Adams was Presi- 
dent, he saw Clinton and others do many of the things which he would 
gladly have done himself if Congress had given him a helping hand. 



220 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Although he could not carry out his plans, he was nevertheless a good 
President, and, when his first term came to an end, he felt that he 
ought to be elected for a second term. But he found himself opposed 
by Andrew Jackson. This remarkable man, of whom you have al- 
ready heard, was born in a log-cabin in a backwoods settlement in 
South Carolina in 1767. In that year his father died, so Andrew 
grew up with a widowed mother, who had two other sons. He began 
to help his mother as soon as his little hands were able to do 
any work. He went to school in a log school-house and there learned 
the three R's (page 100). When he was in his early teens, the bat- 




First home of Andrew Jackson. 

ties of the Revolution were being fought all around him. Mrs. Jack- 
son and all her three boys were Patriots. One of her sons, Hugh, 
died at the age of sixteen, while serving in the American army. 

Young Andrew himself took a part in the Revolution. He gives 
the following account of his experiences in the war: " I was in one 
skirmish, and there they caught me, along with my brother Robert. 
A British lieutenant tried to make me clean his boots, and cut my 
arm with a saber when I refused. After that, they kept me in jail 
about two months, starved me nearly to death, and gave me the small- 
pox. Finally, my mother succeeded in persuading them to release 



IN THE DAYS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 221 

Robert and me on account of our extreme youth and illness. Then 
Robert died of the smallpox, and / barely escaped death. When it 
left me I was a skeleton — not quite six feet long and a little over six 
inches thick." 

When Jackson reached manhood he went to Tennessee and became 
a lawyer. Besides practising law Jackson fought against the Indians, 
for there were still many in Tennessee. Jackson was a good fighter, 
and, as we have already learned (pages 201 and 209), he soon became 
the hero of his State. After his great victory at New Orleans (page 
187), he became the hero of the whole country. 

This was the man who opposed John Quincy Adams in the election 
that was held for President in 1828. He went among the people and 
asked them to vote for him. The people liked his brave and daring 
manner, and, when the time for election came, many more votes were 
cast for Jackson than for Adams. So in 1828 Andrew Jackson 
was elected President, and in 1832 he was elected for a second term. 
What he did while he was President you will learn in the next lesson. 

1. What can you say of the character of John Quincy Adams 

2. Why did John Quincy Adams fail in his undertaking? 
.3 Give an account of the National Road. 

4. Tell the story of the building and the opening of the Erie Canal. 

5. What were some of the benefits of the Erie Canal ? 

6. Give an account of the growth of Michigan. When were Michigan and Arkan- 
sas admitted to the Union? 

7. Tell the story of the first steam railway. 

8. Give a sketch of the life of Andrew Jackson. 



LESSON XXXV 



JACKSON AND HIS TIMES 



Name some of the officers and employees — if you know any — who are in the 
service of the United States. How do these officers and employees receive their 
appointments? For how long a time do they hold their places? What do you un- 
derstand by the words, "To the victors belong the spoils"? Sketch the life of 
Martin Van Buren, telling where and when he was born and giving an account of 
the important things done by him. In the same manner, sketch the life of William 
Henry Harrison. What is a panic? 

" Old Hickory " is inaugurated amid the cheers of the people. 

Jackson was a great friend of the common people, and the common 

people were his friends. When the news 
came that ''Old Hickory" — the nick- 
name for Jackson — was elected Presi- 
dent, there was rejoicing among the peo- 
ple in all parts of the country. Thou- 
sands flocked to Washington to see the 
new President inaugurated. Weeks be- 
fore that event the hotels and boarding- 
houses in the Capital were filled to over- 
flowing. Hundreds of visitors had to 
sleep on floors and in hallways. 

Inauguration day came (March 4, 
1829), and Jackson found himself surrounded by plain citizens. He 
moved about among the crowds as if he were only a plain citizen him- 

222 




Andrew Jackson. 



JACKSON AND HIS TIMES 223 

self. When the hour for the inaugural ceremony arrived, Jackson, 
on foot, made his way through the crowd to the Capitol. As he 
walked along, he was cheered by people sitting in carts and wagons 
and vehicles of every kind. ' When he finished his inaugural address, 
a wild shout went up for " Old Hickory," and thousands rushed for- 
ward to seize the hand of the people's President. In order to escape 
the crowd, Jackson mounted a horse and rode toward the White 
House. But when Jackson reached his new home, it was already filled 
with people scrambling for the cakes and punch and ices that were be- 
ing served, and in the scramble breaking furniture, glassware, and 
china. With great difficulty Jackson managed to enter, but in doing 
so he was pressed against the wall and badly crushed. 

Jackson rewards his friends by giving them offices. Many of 
the men who crowded into the White House went there for something 
more important than cakes or punch, for "^^^^i^.^. 

many of them were seeking office. These of- 1 xl ( ^^^B ||I-"l* 
fice-seekers had helped to elect Jackson, and Ipl! ^n^^ljv-' I 
they felt that it was only right that Jackson ^^^^Wv^^^^'^r^ 
should reward them. And Jackson did re- -^ii^t^yk MmI-' 
ward them. He turned out postmasters and ^Mii^- X|^ IbA 
clerks by the hundreds, giving their places to ^^Mm j /M \^^^. 
the men who had shouted for Jackson. In ^^ 

Omce-seekers cro\\ding into the 

doing this he felt that he was doing no wrong. ^^'^"^^ House. 

He thought that in the campaign of 1828 he and his friends had fought 
a hard battle and had won a great victory, and that it was only right 
that they should have all the benefits of it. His motto was, " To the 
victors belong the spoils." 

South Carolina wishes to withdraw from the Union. In 1832, 
President Jackson was greatly troubled by events which were taking 
place in South Carolina. Congress had passed a law imposing a heavy 



224 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

tariff — a tax on imported goods — upon articles made of cotton, 
wool, and iron. Since goods of this kind were greatly needed in the 
South but were not manufactured there, the people of the Southern 
States were displeased by the tariff law. " They felt they ought to be 
allowed to buy their goods from abroad without paying the tariff. 
In South Carolina the people opposed the tariff in every way they 
could. They decided that they would not pay the duties which the 
Government required them to pay. They went farther, and said that 
South Carolina would secede — that is, that she would withdraw from 
the Union — rather than pay a tax which she thought was unfair. 
To show that they were in earnest, they prepared for war. 

All this troubled Jackson greatly, for it was his duty to see that the 
law was obeyed. When he heard what the people of South Carolina 
were planning to do, he made up his mind that the law should be en- 
forced and that he, too, would get ready to fight. He informed the 
leaders in South Carolina that the laws of the United States should 
be obeyed on every foot of American soil, and that, if a movement 
to resist the law resulted in the loss of a single life, he would hang 
the leaders of it to the nearest tree. Now when Jackson talked of 
hanging, it was time to think of ropes, for Jackson always meant 
what he said. But the people of South Carolina were also in earnest, 
and they meant what they said ; they were ready to refuse to pay the 
tariff ; they were ready to withdraw from the Union ; they were ready 
to fight. 

Jackson felt that he would have to send an army of the United 
States soldiers into South Carolina and uphold the law by force. But 
fortunately, before this was done, Congress (in 1833) passed a new 
tariff law, which satisfied the people of South Carolina. They de- 
cided to obey it, and gave up their plans for secession. So there was 
peace again in the land. 



JACKSON AND HIS TIMES 



225 



Jackson is elected for a second term. About the time President 
Jackson was having so much trouble with South Carolina he was 
again before the people asking them to elect him for a second term. 
The candidate who opposed him was Henry Clay, of Kentucky. 
Clay, of whom we shall hear again, was a brilliant man and a great 
favorite, but nobody could beat Jackson. When the election was held 
arid the votes counted, it was found that the President had been re- 
elected by a great majority. This was in 1832. 

President Van Buren. When Jackson's second term was about 
to come to an end, he expressed a wish that Martin Van Buren, of 
New York, be elected President. But William 
Henry Harrison, of Indiana, was the choice of a 
great many people. Harrison was the hero of 
Tippecanoe (page 191) and very popular in the 
West. So in 1836 both Van Buren and Harri- 
son were candidates for the Presidency. Van 
Buren, with Jackson on his side, was elected, and 
was inaugurated on March 4, 1837. 

While Van Buren was President, times were 
hard and there was a great deal of suffering 
among the people. Business was dull, work- 
men were thrown out of employment, and the price of food was so 
high that in some places poor people could not get enough to eat. The 
people asked Van Buren to remedy these conditions, and he, of course, 
did everything he could, but the hard times continued. 

" Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." Although Van Buren was not 
to blame for the hard times, the people held him responsible for the dis- 
tress which was felt in so many places. When his term was coming 
to an end many people were opposed to him and wanted a new Presi- 
dent. But Van Buren offered himself as a candidate for reelection. 




Martin Van Buren. 



226 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



He was opposed by William Henry Harrison, who again came for- 
ward, with John Tyler, of Virginia, on his ticket as candidate for Vice- 
President. 

This campaign of 1840 was one of the most exciting in our his- 
tory. In the course of it some one said that Harrison was not fit to 
be President — that all he was fit for was to sit in a log-cabin and 

drink hard cider. This sneering re- 
mark did Harrison more good than 
harm, for thousands of those who 
would vote at the election had them- 
selves lived in log-cabins. So the 
friends of Harrison made the most 
of the sneer. They called Harrison 
<r|f the log-cabin candidate. They placed 
log-cabins on wheels and pulled them 
from town to town. As they rolled 
along, merry fellows sat on the roof eating johnny-cake, drinking 
cider, and shouting " Tippecanoe and Tyler, too ! " 

In the West Harrison's name was on every tongue. Women named 
their children Tippecanoe. Teamsters would call one of their horses 
Tip and the other Ty. " The very hens in the West," said one man, 
" are on the side of Harrison, for a hen nowadays never lays an egg 
but she cackles ' Tip-tip ! Tip-tip ! Tyler ! ' " As a result of this en- 
thusiasm Harrison was elected by a large majority. 




The log cabin campaign. 



1. Give an account of the inauguration of Jackson? 

2. How did Jackson reward his friends? 

3. Why did South Caroh'na wish to withdraw from the Union? How was the 
trouhle with South Carolina settled ? 

4. Who were the candidates for President in 1832? Who was elected? 

5. Who were the candidates in 1836? What was the result of the election? 

6. Tell the story of the great campaign of 1840. 



LESSON XXXVI 

THE WINNING OF THE FAR WEST 

Locate Williamsburg, Virginia. What is meant by an independent nation? 
Trace on a map of the United States the 49th parallel of north latitude. Describe 
the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Locate in Mexico, Palo Alto; Monterey; 
Buena Vista; Vera Cruz; Cerro Gordo, Pueblo; Mexico City. Define lieutenant; 
commodore. 



President Harrison is inaugurated ; his death. General A\'illiam 
Henry Harrison was inaugurated as President on the fourth of March, 
1 84 1. When he entered the White House to begin his duties, he 
found a crowd of office-seekers awaiting him, 
for his followers were as hungry for office as 
those of Jackson had been (page 222). Day 
and night they flocked around the new 
President. Some of them slept in the halls 
and corridors of the White House so as to 
be the first to waylay the President in the 
morning. Harrison was greatly worried by 
the people, for he did not have places for 
all. But his cares were soon over, for on 
the fourth of April, one month after his 
inauguration, he died. This was the first 
time a President had died in office. 

The Vice-President becomes President, 
telegraph to flash the news of the President's death over the country 




William Henry Harrison. 



There was then no 



228 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




John Tyler. 



yet it spread rapidly from place to place. A messenger sped to Wil- 
liamsburg, Virginia, to inform John Tyler, the Vice-President, of the 
event. He hastened to Washington and reached 
the city at daybreak on the sixth of April, hav- 
ing made the journey in twenty-one hours. He 
at once took the oath of office as President of 
the United States. This was the first time a Vice- 
President had ever become President. Tyler 
served until March 4, 1845, the date at which 
Harrison's term would have ended had he lived. 
Texas becomes a State. President Tyler, 
like John Ouincy Adams (page 215), failed 
to receive the support of Congress, and the re- 
sult was that he was unable to do many of the things he wished to 
do. He did one thing, however, that was of great importance: he 
helped to bring into the Union a State almost as large as France. 
This State was Texas. For many years it had been one of the States 
of Mexico, but in 1836 it broke away from that country and set up a 
government of its own. So at the time Tyler became President, 
Texas was an independent nation. But many 
of the people of Texas were Americans, and 
they wanted Texas to be joined to the United 
States, so that they might live under the Stars 
and Stripes. 

President Tyler was in favor of bringing 
Texas into the Union, and Congress also was in 
favor of the plan. So in February, 1845, j^^st 
a few days before Tyler's term came to an end, 
the '' Lone Star State," as Texas was called, was annexed to the 
United States. This pleased the people of Texas ; it also pleased the 




The Flag of Texas. 




THE WINNING OF THE FAR WEST 229 

cotton planters of the South, for in the new State there were milhons 
of acres of good cotton-land which could be cultivated by the labor of 
the slave. 

The election of President Polk. In 1844 President Tyler's term 
was drawing to an end and the people had to choose a new President. 
Tyler came forward as a candidate, but he soon 
saw there was no chance for him to be elected, 
and decided to withdrav^ from the campaign. 
This left two candidates in the field — Henry 
Clay, and James K. Polk of Tennessee. Clay, as 
you have already learned, was very popular 
throughout the United States. His hopes of ^ 
winning the election must have been strong, for 
Polk was not a well known man. Indeed, the ^■ 
people knew so little about him that a great many ^^^^ ^ p^^j. 

persons had to ask, ''Who is Polk, anyhow?" 
Yet when the votes were counted, it was found that Clay was defeated 
and that Polk was elected. Clay felt his defeat very keenly, for his 
heart had long been set on the Presidency. 

The Oregon country. When Polk was inaugurated on March 
4, 1845, the rain fell in torrents, and as he delivered his inaugural 
address at the front of the Capitol, he seemed to be speaking to thou- 
sands of umbrellas. In his speech Polk said that the Oregon country 
belonged to the United States, and that it was our duty to take pos- 
session of that far-away region at once. 

This speech of the President created much excitement in England. 
The English felt that part of the Oregon country l)elonged to them, 
as some English people, chiefly fur-traders, had settled there. But 
most of the settlers were Americans, and, about the time Polk was 
inaugurated, emigrants from the older States were moving out to 



2Z0 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Oregon by the thousands. In 1845 it had really become an American 
settlement, and it was of little use for Great Britain to claim it. 
Nevertheless, the English people became very angry and began to talk 
of w^ar when they heard what Polk had said. 

The President, however, went ahead with his plans. He told Great 
Britain that the English might have that part of Oregon which lay 
north of the 49th parallel, but that the United States must have the 
part that lay south of that parallel. England agreed to this, although 
she felt that she was not being treated fairly. In 1846 the Oregon 
question was settled in this way and the best part of the Oregon coun- 
try became a part of the United States. Out of it there have come 
the States of Oregon, Washington, and the greater part of Idaho. 

A dispute leads to fighting. President Polk, however, soon 
gave the United States a possession which was even more valuable 
than the Oregon country, for, in a little more than a year after he 
planted the American flag in Oregon, he also planted it in New Mex- 
ico and California. But before he did this, there was a w^ar between 
the United States and Mexico. 

After Texas was annexed to the United States, a dispute arose as 
to what were its rightful boundaries. Mexico claimed the land be- 
tween the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Texas also claimed it, 
and her claims were defended by Polk. Mexican troops were sent to 
the disputed country, and American troops were sent there also. In 
April, 1846, the two armies fell to fighting and the war began. 

The Mexican War. The Mexican War was a short one, and its 
story is soon told. When it broke out, in the spring of 1846, General 
Zachary Taylor — generally known as ''Old Rough-and-Ready " — 
was on the Mexican border with an army of Americans. He met the 
Mexicans in battle at Palo Alto, Monterey, and Buena Vista, and de- 
feated them. In the spring of 1847 General Winfield Scott landed an 



THE WINNING OF THE FAR WEST 



231 



army of twelve thousand men at Vera Cruz, and, after capturing that 
city, began a march to the City of Mexico. By August the Americans 
had defeated the Mexicans at the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo, had 
taken the city of Pueblo, and had reached the crest of the mountains, 




Map of the war with Mexico. 

where they could look down upon the magnificent valley which led 
to the City of Mexico. 

The Mexicans fought hard in defense of their country. But it was 
of no use; the Americans pushed on, winning victory after victory. 



232 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



-^ <^-^j ^^j 



On September 14 General Scott, at the head of his army, entered the 
City of Mexico in triumph. With the capture of the capital the war 
came to an end, for the Mexicans offered no further resistance. 
The winning of New Mexico and California. While the fight- 
ing was going on, great things were 
happening in the Mexican provinces 
of New Mexico and California. In 
June, 1846, the American troops, 
under the command of Colonel 
Stephen Kearney, marched to Santa 
Fe, captured the town, and took pos- 
session of all New Mexico. < Kearney 
and his men then marched to Cali- 
fornia, where he found that the coun- 
try had already been won for the 
United States by a small body of sol- 
diers under the command of Lieuten- 
ant John C. Fremont, assisted by some 
sailors under the command of Com- 
modore Stockton. 
What the United States acquired during the administrations of 
Tyler and Polk. So at the end of the Mexican War the Americans 
found themselves in possession of the disputed portion of Texas — 
the part between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande — and of New 
Mexico and California. By treaty it was agreed with Mexico that we 
should keep the territory which we had taken. In return, however, 
the United States agreed to pay to Mexico the sum of $15,000,000 — • 
precisely the amount which President Jefferson had paid for Louisiana 
(page 182). Thus, during the administrations of Tyler and Polk, an 
immense area was added to the United States. Look at a map and 




General Scott entering the City of Mexico. 



THE WINNING OF THE FAR WEST 



233 



observe how vast this area v^as. You will see that out of the land 
which we acquired between 1840 and 1850 there have been made the 
States of Texas, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, California, Ne- 
vada, New Mexico, and Arizona, and parts of Wyoming, Montana, 
Oklahoma, and Colorado. 

The election of 1848. Although Polk had done 
so much to win the Far West for the United States, 
he was not elected for a second 'term. In 1848 his 
party — the Democratic — nominated Lewis Cass, 
of Michigan. The Whig Party nominated General 
Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for President and 
Millard Fillmore, of New York, for Vice-President. 
Taylor was not a great statesman, but in the Mexi- 
can War he had been a great fighter, and, for that 
reason, he was well liked by the people. Taylor won the election, 
and in March, 1849, he was inaugurated as President. 




Zachary Taylor. 



1. Give an account of the inauguration and death of President Harrison. 

2. Who became President after the death of Harrison? 

3. How did Texas become a State? 

4. Give an account of the election of President Polk. 

5. How did the Oregon country become a part of the United States? 

6. What dispute led to fighting between the United States and Mexico? 

7. Tell the story of the Mexican War. 

8. Give an account of the winning of New Mexico and California. 

9. What territory in the Far West and in the South-west was acquired by the 
United States while Tyler and Polk were Presidents? 

10. Give an account of the election of 1848. 



LESSON XXXVII 

WESTWARD HO ! 

What is a continent? What is the distance across the American continent when 
measured from the city of New York to San Francisco? Locate Milwaukee; 
Madison; St. Paul; Sacramento; Salt Lake City; Kansas City, Missouri; Albu- 
querque. In 1845 how could one travel by water from New York to Milwaukee? 
From New York to San Francisco by water? What is a prairie? What can you 
say of the climate of California? Describe the Humboldt River. 

In the last lesson you learned how Tyler and Polk, between 1840 
and 1850, gave Texas, the Oregon country, California, and New Mex- 
ico to the United States, and thus carried the American flag clear 
across the continent and planted it on the Pacific Coast. In this les- 
son we shall see how settlers, 
during the same period, moved 
out into these possessions and 
built up new States and Terri- 
tories. 

Iowa, Wisconsin, and Min- 
nesota. Before we begin to 
learn of the settlement of the 
Far West, we must first see 
what happened in the region of 
the Great Lakes and the Upper Mississippi. You remember that, 
after the Erie Canal was finished, the Michigan country was rap- 
idly filled with settlers. But all the emigrants did not stop there. 
Thousands of them moved on to the western shore of Lake Michi- 

234 




The first capitol of Wisconsin. 



WESTWARD HO ! 235 

gan and settled in the Wisconsin country. In 1835 the first houses 
in Mihvaukee were built, and the next year a surveyor marked out 
the streets for a town which has grown to be the beautiful city of 
Madison. Wisconsin filled so fast with settlers that in a few years 
her population was large enough for a State and in 1848 she was al- 
lowed to enter the Union. While Wisconsin was rising out of the 
forest, Iowa was rising on the prairies. By 1838 ferries were busy 
bringing pioneers across the Mississippi into Iowa, and steam- 
boats on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri were crowded with pas- 
sengers bound for the 
same place. By 1846 
so many emigrants had 
poured in that Iowa 
was then admitted as a 
State. 

By this time settlers 
were making their way 
up' to the headwaters 
of the Mississippi. In 
1849 St. Paul was founded and made the capital of a territory which 
was called Minnesota. Thus, in a few short years, two States and 
two Territories arose out of the wilderness in the region of the Great 
Lakes and the Upper Mississippi. 

The discovery of gold in California. All the emigrants who 
went west between 1840 and 1850 were not content to make their 
homes in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Thousands of them 
moved on across the great plains and over the mountains to the far-off 
Pacific Coast. Many followed the Oregon Trail, which led them out 
into the Oregon country where they settled down and laid the founda- 
tions of Oregon, which was organized as a Territory in 1846. 




Steamboats on the Mississippi. 



236 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



California was the place in the Far West upon which most of the 
emigrants fixed their eyes. The first settlers there were attracted by 
the delightful climate and the excellent soil. But in 1848 California 
had a new attraction for emigrants. In that year a man named 
Marshall, a settler in the Sacramento Valley, picked up something 




THE M.-N. WORKS, 



Along the Upper Mississippi and around the Great Lakes. 

which promised to be gold, and in a few weeks it was discovered that 
there were great quantities of this precious metal in the valley. 

The rush to California. When this news reached the Eastern 
States, it caused great excitement among all classes. Old men, young 
men, professors, lawyers, farmers, laborers, began to have dreams of 
wealth, and were seized with a desire to go to California, where they 
believed they could get rich in a week. Thousands made a wild dash 
for the newly found gold-fields. They traveled on foot, on horse- 



WESTWARD HO ! 



237 



back, in wagons, in carts, in boats. Some went all the way by water, 
sailing around Cape Horn. Others went by water to the Isthmus of 
Panama, which they crossed, and took ship again on the Pacific side. 

Most of the emigrants went overland. Starting from a point near 
Kansas City, Missouri, some made the toilsome journey by the Santa 
Fe Trail, driving their slow mule-teams or ox-teams across hot and 
sandy deserts and over rough and dangerous mountain paths, and 
suffering many hardships on the way. Others went by the Oregon 
Trail as far as the Humboldt River, 
where they turned to the southwest 
and moved down into the Sacramento 
Valley where lay the wonderful fields 
of gold. 

California becomes a State. 
When we took possession of Califor- 
nia (page 2;^2), its population was 
only about 10,000. Two years after 
the discovery of gold its population 
was nearly 100,000. San Francisco 
in 1848 was a mere village, but in five 
years it was a city of 35,000 inhabi- 
tants. Of course, so many people 

could not live together without a government, and a strong government, 
too, for among the miners there were many lawless characters and 
much violence and disorder. So the people of the gold region asked 
Congress to admit California as a State. Congress, after debating ^ 
the question a long time, granted their request. This was in the year 
1850. 

Utah. About the time Oregon and California were filling up 

1 An -account of the great debate will be given in Lesson XXXIX. 




A gold miner. 



238 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



with settlers, the foundations of Utah were being laid. The pioneers 
of Utah were the Mormons. The first home of the Mormons was in 
western New York. From New York they moved to Ohio, and from 
Ohio to Missouri. In Missouri they got into trouble and were ordered 
to leave the State. So they went from Missouri to Illinois. Here 
they got into trouble again and their leader, Joseph Smith, was killed. 
In 1847 they chose a new leader, Brigham Young, and decided to seek 
'a home in the Far West. In a thousand covered wagons they left 



^^ 




Salt Lake City in 1848. 



Illinois, and after a long journey across the plains, they came to a val- 
ley in the Salt Lake basin. Here they made a settlement. 

The Mormons wanted the country where they had finally settled to 
be made a State, but Congress would not consent. It saw, however, 
that the Mormons needed a government of some kind, so in 1850 it 
created the Territory of Utah. Salt Lake City was chosen as the 
capital and Brigham Young was appointed as the first governor. The 
Mormons were allowed to live in their new home in peace, but they 
had to wait until 1896 for Utah to be admitted to the Union. 



WESTWARD HO ! 



239 



New Mexico. At the time that Utah was made a Territory, an- 
other Territory, New Mexico, was formed in the Far West. When 
New Mexico came into our possession (page 232), it included the 
greater part of what is now Arizona, and contained a population of 
about 50,000. An attempt was made to bring New Mexico into the 
Union at once. But Congress would not let her come in. Congress, 
however, did not neglect her entirely, for, on the same day that Utah 
was made a Territory, New Mexico was also made a Territory. 

You can now see how wonderful was the growth of our country 
between 1840 and 1850. Within these ten years Texas, Florida, 
Iowa, Wisconsin, and California were admitted into the Union as 
States, while Minnesota, Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico were or- 
ganized as Territories. And, with the exception of Florida, all these 
States and Territories were built up in the wild country west of the 
Mississippi. No wonder everybody was saying during these years, 
" Westward the course of empire takes its way," and that the watch- 
word of the times was " Westward Ho ! " 

1. Tell the story of the early history of Wisconsin ; of Iowa ; of Minnesota. 

2. Give an account of the discovery of gold in California and describe the rush 
to the gold-fields. 

3. Under what circumstances, and when, was California admitted into the Union? 

4. Tell the story of the Mormons and the founding of Utah, 

5. What was the early history of New Mexico? 

6. Name all the States that were admitted into the Union between 1840 and 
1850; name all the Territories that were founded between these years. 



LESSON XXXVIII 

MC CORMICK, MORSE, AND HOWE 

Define invention; inventor; patent; electric; discouragement. What does the 
word telegraph mean? How^ far is it from Baltimore to Washington? How far is it 
from New York to San Francisco ? How long does it take to send a message from 
New York to San Francisco by mail? How long does it take to send a message from 
New York to San Francisco by telegraph? 



While pioneers between 1840 and 1850 were building up the Middle 
West and the Far West, men in the East were busy on farms, in fac- 
tories, and in stores, building up our industries and trade. Among 
these men there were three whose services were so great that we must 
in this lesson learn what they did. The three men were Cyrus Mc- 

Cormick, Samuel F. B. Morse, and 
Elias Howe. 

McCormick and his reaper. Cy- 
rus McCormick was the inventor who 
gave to the United States and to the 
world the Reaper. IMcCormick was 
born in Virginia in 1809. His father 
was a blacksmith, and Cyrus learned 
his father's trade. He saw that Amer- 
ican farmers were raising more grain 
than could be cut with the old-fash- 
ioned scythe, so he set his wits to work to invent a machine that would 
cut grain. He toiled long years at his task, and in 183 1 he completed 
a machine which he believed would work. 

240 




Cyrus McCormick. 



Mccormick, morse, and howe 



241 



" One day in July," says Mr. Casson, in his interesting life of Mc- 
Cormick, " with no spectators except his parents and his excited broth- 
ers and sisters, Cyrus put a horse between the shafts of his reaper 
and drove against the yellow grain. The reel revolved and swept the 
gentle wheat downward upon the knife. Click! Click! Click! The 
white steel blade shot back and forth. The grain was cut. It fell 
upon the platform in a golden swath. Here, at last, was a reaper that 
reaped, the first that had ever been made in any country." 

McCormick's first reaper was of course a clumsy affair, and the 
farmers of the neighborhood poked much fun at it. But the young 




w McCormick's first reaper. 

man paid no attention to the sneers of his neighbors. He kept at his 
task, making improvements upon the first machine, and by the year 
1 84 1 he was making reapers which farmers were glad to buy. Mc- 
Cormick sold a few of his reapers in Virginia, but he saw that the 
West was the place for his invention. On a trip which he took 
through Ohio and Illinois he saw great fields of ripe wheat rotting 
on the ground because there were not enough laborers to harvest it. 
Farmers, with their wives and children, had worked day and night 
to gather the crop, but it was more than the scythe could cut. 



242 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



McCormick decided to go where his reapers were most needed, 
and in 1847 he moved to Chicago, buih a factory, and began to make 
his machines. He was successful from the beginning. In less than 
a year he sold 500 reapers, and before ten years had passed, he had 
sold nearly 25,000. When McCormick died, in 1884, his Chicago 
factory was making reapers at the rate of 50,000 a year, and there 
were in use in all parts of the world more than 500,000 of his ma- 
chines, doing the work that would have taken 5,000,000 men with 
the old-fashioned sickle and scythe. 

Morse and his electric telegraph. About the time that Mc- 
Cormick's first reapers were beginning to click, another inventor was 

working on a machine which also went 
Click! Click! Click! This inventor was 
Samuel F. B. Morse. Morse was born in 
1 79 1 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He 
was one of eleven children, and his father 
was a poor man, so young Morse had to 
make his own way in the world. For a 
long time he found it rough and full of 
hardships. He studiec^to be an artist, and 
became quite skilful as a painter. But he 
did not succeed in selling many of his pic- 
tures, and he had a hard struggle with 
poverty. Indeed, there were times when his wife and three children 
had hardly enough to eat. 

When he was past forty years of age and his life seemed to be a 
failure, he began to work upon a machine which would send a message 
along a wire by means of a current of electricity; that is, he began 
to work upon the Electric Telegraph. After much labor he suc- 
ceeded in making a machine that would send a message several miles. 




Samuel F. B. Morse. 



Mccormick, morse, and howe 



243 



But Morse felt that he could make an instrument that would send a 
message a hundred — yes, thousands of miles, if he only had enough 
money to conduct the experiments. By good luck he made the 
acquaintance of a rich young man named Alfred Vail, who became 
greatly interested in the invention upon which Morse was working. 
So Vail furnished the money for the experiments, and worked with 
Morse while he was perfecting the machine. In the face of discour- 
agement and bad luck Morse and Vail w^orked on patiently together, 
and by 1843 their invention was completed. 

In 1844 wires were stretched between Baltimore and Washington, 
and a trial of the wonderful instrument was made. Morse sat at the 
key in Washington and clicked off the message, " What hath God 




The first message sent by telegraph. 

wrought? " and in the twinkling of an eye it was received by Vail at 
Baltimore, forty miles away. So Morse was at last successful. His 
electric telegraph was soon in use not only in all parts of the United 
States, but in all parts of the world. 

Howe and his sewing-machine. Two years after Morse in- 
vented the telegraph, Elias Howe invented the Sewing-Machine. 
Howe was born in Spencer, Massachusetts, in 18 19. His father was 
a farmer, and as soon as Elias was old enough, he began to work on 
the farm. But his body was too weak for such heavy labor, so, at 
the age of sixteen, he went to work in a machine-shop. One 
day, while at work in Boston, he heard somebody say that a fortune 



244 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




Elias Howe. 



was in store for any man who would invent a sewing-machine. This 
remark set young Howe to thinking. He asked himself, " Why can 
not / make a sewing-machine ? " and he determined to try. He fixed 
his mind upon the art of sewing, and, the more he thought about the 

matter, the more firmly he became con- 
vinced that he could make a machine that 
would sew. 

Accordingly, about 1844, he under- 
took the task. He was now married, 
and, like Morse and many other inven- 
k tors, he was very poor. He earned only 
nine dollars a week, yet out of this small 
sum five mouths had to be fed and five 
backs had to be clothed. But Howe felt 
that, if he could make a machine that 
would sew, his days of poverty would soon be over. So he went 
about the work in earnest, and by 1845 ^^^ ^^^ completed a machine 
that would sew at the rate of 250 stitches in a minute. This was about 
seven times as many as could be made in the same time by hand. 

Howe secured a patent for his machine in 1846, but it was a long 
time before he was able to sell any of them. The cost of the first 
machine had been nearly three hundred dollars, and this was more 
than an ordinary tailor or seamstress could afford to pay. For sev- 
eral years Howe went from place to place trying to sell his machine ; 
but bad luck seemed to follow him. Once he was almost starving and 
he had to borrow a few pennies from a friend with which to buy some 
beans, which he cooked and ate in his room. In 1849 ^^ found him- 
self in New York with only fifty cents in his pocket. But about 1850 
the tide turned. His machines began to sell, and upon each one sold 
he received a handsome sum of money. One year his income was 



Mccormick, morse, and howe 245 

$200,000, and it is said that altogether his profits from his sewing- 
machine amounted to more than $2,000,000. 

We ought to be glad that Howe, and McCormick, and Morse were 
richly rewarded for their labors, for they rendered a great service 
not only to the people of the United States, but to the people of the 
whole world. The reaper of McCormick made it possible for the 
farmer to raise more wheat; more wheat, of course, meant more bread 
for hungry mouths. The sewing-machine of Howe meant less toil 
for millions of tired fingers and more clothes for the poorly-clad 
bodies of millions of men and women. The electric telegraph of 
Morse made it possible to send messages to all parts of the world with 
the speed of lightning. 

1. Tell the story of McCormick and his reaper. 

2. Tell the story of Morse and his electric telegraph. 

3. Tell the story of Howe and his sewing-machine. 

4. What did these great inventions do for the world? 



LESSON XXXIX 

WEBSTER, CLAY, AND CALHOUN 

In what States are large quantities of cotton raised? Define abolition; bondage; 
concede; ensign; gorgeous; inseparable; fragment; pacificator. What is a mob? 
What is a fugitive? Can you find the north star? What is an orator? What is a 
compromise ? 

In the lesson before the last one you learned that California was 
admitted into the Union in 1850. When the question of admitting 
this State came up before Congress, several questions about slavery 
had to be settled. The three great leaders in Congress at this time 

were John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and 

Henry Clay. 

Calhoun the Friend of the South. Cal 

houn was born in South Carolina in 1782. 

He attended Yale College and while there he 

was a leader amons: the students. It is said 

/JI^^^M^i^'^J^^W^ ^^^^ ^'^^ ^^'^^ ^'^^^^ ^y ^^^^ president of the Col- 
lege that he would one day be President of 
the United States. Although Calhoun never 
became President he nevertheless held many 
high offices under the Government. He was 
a member of Congress, a Senator and twice he was elected Vice-Presi- 
dent. When the trouble arose with South Carolina in 1832 (p. 223) 
he stood up for his State bravely and declared that if a State was 
treated unjustly it could rightfully leave the Union. While he was in 

246 




WEBSTER, CLAY, AND CALHOUN 



247 




Daniel Webster. 



Congress he defended the rights of slaveholders whenever he felt their 
rights were being attacked. So Calhoun was the friend and champion 
of the South and he was greatly loved by the south- 
ern people. 

Webster the Defender of the Union. Web- 
ster was the same age as Calhoun. He was born 
in New Hampshire but most of his life was spent 
in Massachusetts. For many years he represented 
Massachusetts in the United States Senate. He 
was one of the greatest orators that ever lived and 
he made many powerful speeches in the Senate. 
He loved the Union dearly and he did not want 
to see it broken up or weakened in any way. In one of his speeches 
he said : " It is to the Union we owe our safety at home and our dig- 
nity abroad. It is to that Union that we are chiefly indebted for 
whatever makes us most proud of our country. While the Union lasts 
we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us. 
When my eyes shall be turned to behold for 
the last time the sun in heaven may I not see 
him shining on the broken fragments of a once 
glorious Union. Let their last feeble and lin- 
gering glance rather behold the gorgeous en- 
sign of the republic, not a stripe erased nor a 
single star obscured, bearing the sentiment dear 
to every true American heart — liberty and 
Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." 
Clay the Peace-maker. Clay was five 
years older than Webster. He was born ^'^""■^ ^'^y- 

in Virginia but just when he reached manhood he moved out to 
Kentucky where he lived for the remainder of his life. We have 




248 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

already learned that Clay was a candidate for President in 1832 
(p. 225) and also in 1844. He was the Secretary of State under John 
Quincy Adams and he represented Kentucky in the United States 
Senate. His great service in the Senate consisted in making peace. 
Whenever a quarrel arose in Congress between the members of the 
North and those of the South Clay always came forward with a plan 
to settle the difficulty in a peaceful manner. Because he did so many 
things in the cause of peace he was known as the " Great Pacificator." 
In this lesson you are to learn what these three great men, Calhoun, 
Webster, and Clay, did to settle the slavery question. But first it will 
be best to learn something about slavery as it existed in 1850. 

How slaves were treated. A slave was property and was owned 
by his master just as you own your watch or your knife. If a slave 
ran away from his master, men were sent out to find him and bring 

him back. Sometimes runaway slaves were 
hunted and run down by dogs known as blood- 
hounds. Slaves had to work hard, and re- 
ceived no wages for their labor. But they had 
little need for money, for food, clothing, and 
shelter were given to them by their master. If 
, ^, ^, ^ a slave refused to work, or if he was worth- 

A bloodhouna. 

less and lazy, he was whipped, sometimes very 
severely. Sometimes he was cruelly treated, but as a rule masters 
were kind to their slaves. A cruel master was generally looked down 
upon and shunned by his white neighbors. 

The abolitionists. In the South most people felt that slavery 
was right, but in the North a great many people felt that it was 
wrong to hold human beings in bondage; they believed that all men, 
white or black, yellow or red, ought to be free. About 1830 a few 
men and women in the North began to cry out against slavery. They 




WEBSTER, CLAY, AND CALHOUN 249 

said it was a sin and ought not to be allowed in a free country like 
ours. They demanded that all slaves be set free. These people 
were called abolitionists, because they believed that slavery ought to 
be abolished, that is, wiped out. 

William Lloyd Garrison. The great leader of the abolitionists 
was William Lloyd Garrison. This remarkable man published a 
newspaper called the " Liberator." In it he said such bitter things 
about the evils of slavery that he made the slaveholders of the South 
very angry. And he made some of the people of the North very angry 
also, for there were some northern people w^ho saw nothing wrong 
in the holding of slaves. In Boston, where Garrison lived and pub- 
lished his paper, there were leading men who looked down upon 
abolitionists and would have nothing to do with them. Once, Gar- 
rison was attacked on the street by a mob and roughly treated. But 
this great man could not be frightened and he did not care what men 
might say about him. He went on speaking and waiting against 
slavery. Every year the feeling against it grew stronger and stronger, 
and the number of abolitionists grew _— =::^^-^^^^^^:^l_ 
larger and larger. By 1850, there w^re 
in the North hundreds of thousands of 
abolitionists demanding that the slaves 
should be set free. 

The " underground railway." Gar- 
rison and his followers were so much in 
earnest, and so anxious to see slavery 
abolished that they did some things that 
they had no right to do. One of the un- 
lawful things they did was to help slaves ^ " ergroun aiway. 
escape from their masters. They established what they called an 
" underground railway," by which runaway slaves could escape into 




250 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Canada, a country where it was unlawful to hold anybody as a slave. 
This underground railroad was not a railroad at all; it was simply 
an arrangement by which a secret band of abolitionists helped along 
runaway slaves from one place to another until they were safely across 
the border of the United States. The fugitive slave always made his 
way northward, hiding in the woods in the daytime, and following 
the north star at night. When he reached the border of Pennsyl- 
vania or Ohio, he often found abolitionists waiting to help him in his 
flight. By means of the underground railroad he was carried in se- 
cret from place to place until his feet were on the free soil of Canada, 
where he was out of reach of his master. 

Four great questions. And now for the questions which 
Congress had to settle in 1850: 

(i) Should California come into the Union as a slave State? 

(2) Should slavery be allowed in the new Territories (page 239) of 
Utah and New Mexico? 

(3) Should slavery and the slave-trade be allowed to continue in 
the District of Columbia? 

(4) Should the operations of the underground railroad be stopped? 
That is, should strict laws be passed to prevent the abolitionists 
from helping runaway slaves to escape ? 

Calhoun, Clay, and Webster; the compromise of 1850. The 
members of Congress from the Southern States said yes to every 
one of these questions. The members from the Northern States said 
no to every question. The questions were debated day after day, and 
the disputes over slavery were very bitter. The leaders in the debate 
in the Senate were Calhoun, Clay, and Webster. These three states- 
men were now old men; but their minds were still clear, and they 
entered heart and soul into the debate. Calhoun, the leader of the 
South, Was in his seat In the Senate, wrapped in flannels and so feeble 



WEBSTER, CLAY, AND CALHOUN 



251 



that he could not rise and speak. But his speech was read for him 
by a fellow-senator. In it he said he would vote yes on every one 
of the questions, because that was what the South wanted, and also 
because he was afraid that, if Congress voted no, the States of the 
South would secede ; that is, they would withdraw from the Union. 
Clay did not wish to vote yes on every question. He said there 
ought to be a compromise; that is, there ought to be give and take. 
The North, he thought, ought to concede something to the South, 
and the South ought to concede something to the North. Webster 
also thought there should be a compromise. He did not like slavery, 
and, if he had followed his own wishes, "he would have voted no on 
all four questions. But he, too, believed that, if Congress voted no, 
the Southern States would secede, and the Union would be broken up. 
So, out of love for the Union and in a spirit of good will and friendli- 
ness to the South, he decided to support the plan of compromise sug- 
gested by Clay, which was this : 

1. To admit California as a free State. 

2. To give Territorial government to 
Utah and New Mexico without making any 
provision one way or the other about slav- 
ery. (This pleased the South.) 

3. To prohibit the slave trade in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. (This pleased the 
North.) But to allow slavery itself to 
continue in the District of Columbia. 
(This pleased the South.) 

4. To pass a law that would be strict 
enough to prevent the abolitionists from 
helping slaves to escape. (This pleased the South.) 

After a long debate Clay's plan of compromise passed both houses 



(This pleased the North.) 




Millard Filmore. 



252 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

of Congress, and was signed by the President in September, 1850. 
The President who signed the bill was Millard Fillmore, for President 
Taylor was no longer alive. In July, 1850, he suddenly fell ill, and 
died in a few days, being succeeded by Vice-President Fillmore (page 

The passing away of the great leaders. We shall hear no more 
of Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, for these great leaders soon passed 
away. Calhoun died before the great debate of 1850 was finished. 
Clay followed him two years later, while Webster survived Clay only 
four months. For more than thirty years these three men had been 
leaders in public life, and when they were gone, they were greatly 
missed. 

1. How were slaves treated? 

2. What can you say of the Abolitionists and of William Lloyd Garrison? 

3. Give an account of the underground railroad. 

4. What four great questions did Congress have to settle in 1850? 

5. What answer did Calhoun, Clay, and Webster have for these questions? 

6. What was Clay's plan of compromise? 

7. What can you say of the passing away of Calhoun, Clay, and Webster? 



LESSON XL 

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 

What kind of work does a cabinet-maker do ? Locate Jacksonville, Illinois ; 
Lawrence, Kansas. Define ambitious, sentiment. What are the names of the two 
great political parties at the present time? Prepare a sketch of the life of Frank- 
lin Pierce and read the sketch in class. Prepare a sketch of the life of James Bu- 
chanan and read the sketch in class. 



The election of Pierce. In the presidential election of 1852, 
Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, was the candidate of the Demo- 
cratic party. Pierce had fought in the Mexican 
War and had shown himself to be a good sol- 
dier. He was brave, handsome, well educated, 
and was well liked both in the South and in the 
North. He was elected by a very large major- 
ity over his opponent. General Winfield Scott, 
who had been nominated by the Whigs. 

Stephen A. Douglas, the " Little Giant." 
After the election of Pierce many of the lead- 
ers hoped that the North and the South would 
move along in peace and harmony, and that there would be no 
more trouble about slavery. But with the passing away of Clay and 
Webster and Calhoun there came to the front new leaders, who would 
not let the subject of slavery rest. Foremost among them was 
Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. 

Douglas was one of the greatest men in our history. He was 

253 




Franklin Pierce. 



254 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




born in Vermont in 1813. As a child he was deHcate in body and 
was not fitted for hard labor. At the age of fifteen he began to work 
at the trade of cabinet-making. But he soon gave up his trade, and 
bidding farewell to the hills of Vermont, he sought his fortune in the 

West. He made his way to southern Illi- 
nois, reaching Jacksonville in 1833. Here he 
found himself without friends and with only 
thirty-seven cents in his pocket. He was still 
a boy, and a little boy at that, for he was 
hardly five feet tall and he weighed less than a 
hundred pounds. But although his body was 
small, he had a head of tremendous size and 
one that was well-stocked with brains. He 
quickly made some friends, and soon he was 

Stephen A. Douglas. ^-^^^^^ ^ g^j^^^j ^^ ^^^^^ ^Yl^-j^ ^^jj^^ ^^Jg ^^ 

read law, and in a very short time prepared himself to practise it, 
opening a law ofiice in Jacksonville. 

Within a few months he became the leader of the Democratic party 
in his neighborhood. Before he was twenty-one years of age, he was 
called upon to make a speech to a great crowd at a political meeting. 
He spoke for an hour with such earnestness and power that his hearers 
were swept ofif their feet. At the end of his speech some of the men 
in the audience seized upon him, bore him on their shoulders out of 
the room, and carried him around the public square. They called him 
the " Little Giant," and from that day he was known by that name. 
Before he was twenty-two, Douglas was chosen to fill the ofiice of dis- 
trict attorney. 

But the Little Giant w^as restless, high-strung, and ambitious. No 
sooner did he succeed in reaching one position than he began to try 
for something higher. By the time he was twenty-five years of age 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 255 

he was a member of the legislature of Illinois. At twenty-seven he 
was made a judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois, the highest court 
in the State; at thirty he took his seat in the House of Representa- 
tives at Washington. 

Here the Little Giant soon showed himself a wonderful orator and 
debater. When speaking, he would throw his arms about in a frantic 
manner and lash himself into such a heat that perspiration ran in 
streams down his face. His fellow-members sometimes laughed at 
his little body and big head, but nevertheless they listened to his words, 
and soon learned to regard him as a powerful leader. 

Douglas did not remain in the House of Representatives any longer 
than he could help. He soon began to strive for a seat in the United 
States Senate, and in 1846 he was elected as a member of that great 
body. There was now only one more prize for him to win ; one 
step higher, and he would be the President of the United States. Of 
course the Little Giant was going to take that step if he could. 

Douglas throws Kansas and Nebraska open to slavery. One of 
the greatest events in the life of Douglas occurred in 1854. In that 
year he asked the Senate to pass the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. This 
bill provided governments for the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, 
and allowed the people of these new Territories to have slaves if they 
chose. 

You will remember that, by the ^Missouri Compromise (p. 211), 
slavery was forbidden north of the parallel of 36° 30'. Look on 
the map and you will see that both Kansas and Nebraska are north 
of the parallel 36° 30'. So Douglas, by asking Congress to throw 
the new Territories open to slavery, really asked it to do away with 
the Missouri Compromise. This frightened the men who were op- 
posed to slavery, and there was much excitement both in Congress 
and throughout the country. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill was bitterly 



256 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



opposed, but Douglas was a hard fighter and he seldom lost a battle. 
In May, 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and it was 
signed by President Pierce. 

The trouble in Kansas. By throwing the new Territories of 
Kansas and Nebraska open to slavery, dissensions arose which ended 
in bloodshed. The trouble began in Kansas, where there were set- 
tlers both from the North and the South. The settlers from the North 
wanted to bring Kansas into the Union as a free State. Those from 
the South wanted it to come in as a slave State. By the terms of the 



.i^'Hb'AMVf/ttiUvi*' 



\l'/«' 







Ruffians seizing an emigrant's wagon in Kansas. 



Kansas-Nebraska Law the question of slavery in Kansas was to be 
determined by the vote of the people. But when the people came to 
vote upon the question, the free-State men and the slave-State men 
fell to fighting. In May, 1856, a party of slave-State men attacked 
the town of Lawrence, Kansas, destroyed a great deal of property, 
and killed several free-State men. In revenge for this, John Brown, 
a bitter enemy of slavery, went' out at midnight with his four sons 
and killed five slave-State men. After a long and bloody struggle 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 



257 



the free-State men won, and it was settled that Kansas should come 
into the Union as a free State.^ 

Buchanan is elected President. In 1856, the year of the Kansas 
troubles, the people were called upon to choose a President to succeed 
Pierce. Douglas wished to be the candidate 
of the Democratic party but it was afraid 
to nominate him. The leaders of the party 
feared that the men in the North who were op- 
posed to slavery would vote against him be- 
cause he had prevailed upon Congress to pass 
the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. So they nominated ^\ 
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. 

The Whigs had no candidate, but a new 
party was coming to the front and asking the 
people for their votes. This was the Republican party. It was op- 
posed to the spread of slavery; that is, it did not want any more slave 
States admitted into the Union. It demanded that Kansas be ad- 
mitted as a free State. Its candidate for President was John C. Fre- 
mont (p. 232). Buchanan won the election and was inaugurated in 
1857. Although the Democrats were victorious, the vote cast for the 
Republicans was very large and the election showed plainly enough 
that the sentiment against slavery was very strong. 




James Buchanan. 



1. Give an account of the election of 1852. 

2. Tell the story of the life of Stephen A. Douglas up to the time he was elected to 
the Senate. 

3. What was the purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill? 

4. What troubles did the law bring upon Kansas? 

5. Give an account of the election of 1856. 



1 Kansas was not actually admitted as a State until 1861. 



LESSON XLI 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Define popular ; unpopular ; insurrection. Find on a map of Illinois the following 
towns: New Salem; Springfield; Galesburg; Freeport; Ottawa. Where is the 
District of Columbia? How many Senators does each State have in the United 
States Senate? Where is Harper's Ferry? What is an arsenal? 

The Little Giant loses some friends. After the passage of the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill Douglas found himself very unpopular in the 
Northern States. He found that even in his own State of Illinois he 
had lost a great number of his friends. Many of them thought he 
ought no longer to have a seat in the United States Senate, but the 
Little Giant was not going to give that up if he could help it, so in 
1858 he went among the people of Illinois and made speeches de- 
fending himself and asking the people to elect him again to the Senate. 

The career of Abraham Lincoln. In 1858 there was another 
man in Illinois asking the people to elect him to the Senate. That 
man was Abraham Lincoln. This great man was born in a log- 
cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky in the year 1809. For seven 
years he lived in that State, and then he went with his parents 
to live in Indiana. Here, in a great forest, the Lincolns built them- 
selves a cabin and cleared the ground for a farm. There was much 
hard work to be done and little Abe, although he was only seven years, 
old, had to help his father to cut down the trees and hew the logs/ 
to break the ground and plant the grain. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



259 







Young Lincoln helping his father. 



It was a wild region in which he lived. Bears and other animals 
roamed about in the woods. The nearest school-house was four 
miles from the Lincoln cabin. The 
nearest church was many miles 
away. At the age of nine Abe was 
sent to the log-cabin school-house, 
where he learned to read and ci- 
pher. But his school-days were 
few in number, and he could go 
only a few weeks at a time. In his 
whole life he did not attend school 
more than a year. 

Most of his boyhood was spent 
at hard work. He had a powerful 
body, and he could handle an ax 
better and cut down more trees in a day than any man in the neigh- 
borhood. " My, how Abe could chop ! " said Dennis Hanks, his uncle. 

" His ax would flash and bite into a 
sugar-tree or a sycamore, and down it 
would come. If you heard him felling 
trees, you would say there were three 
men at work, the way the trees fell." 

Although Abe could not go to school, 
he was very fond of learning, and when 
he could find'a spare moment, he would 
use it for study. At night he would 
read by the light of a fire or a tallow 
dip. The onlv books in his home were 
the Bible, the catechism, and a spelling-book. But there were a few 
books in the neighborhood which Abe could borrow, and he made 




Lincoln studying by the light of a fire. 



26o FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

good use of them. He would walk twenty miles to borrow a good 
book. 

At the age of twenty-one young Lincoln went to Illinois to live. 
For a year he lived with his father in Macon County. Then he went 
to New Salem, in Sangamon County, and took a position as a clerk 
in a store. Lincoln was now six feet, four inches tall, and had the 
strength of a giant. Once a big fellow named Jack Armstrong at- 
tacked him. But Armstrong met his match. Lincoln seized the bully 
by the neck, and, holding him at arm's length, shook him as if he were 
a little boy. 

In 1833 the governor of Illinois called for volunteers to serve in 
the war against Black Hawk, an Indian chief who was giving much 
trouble to the settlers in the northern part of the State. Lincoln an- 
swered promptly to the call and was chosen as the captain of a 
company. He marched to the scene of war with his men, but he was 
not called upon to do any fighting. 

In the same year in which Lincoln went to the Black Hawk War 

he came forward as a candidate for a seat 
in the State Legislature, but was de- 
feated. Two years later, in 1834, he was 
again a candidate. This time he had bet- 
ter luck, for he was elected by a good ma- 
jority. In 1836 he was elected for a sec- 
- ;? .,..^.^. ^^^ term and in 1838 for a third term. 

The cabin in which Lincoln was born. ^-^ -,..,, , . , , . , 

• One of his fellow-members m the legisla- 
ture was Stephen A. Douglas, the Little Giant, who one day was to 
become his rival. 

While Lincoln was serving his State as a law-maker, he studied 
law and became a lawyer. In 1833 he left New Salem and moved to 
Springfield, where he opened a law oflice. He was very successful, 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 261 

and soon he had as much law business as he could attend to. He was 
always honest in dealing with his clients, and people called him " Hon- 
est Abe." 

" Honest Abe " is elected to Congress. In 1846 Lincoln felt that 
he would like to go to Congress. So he asked his friends to help him 
get the nomination for a seat in the House of Representatives. This 
they willingly did, and he was chosen as the candidate of the Whig 
party. He went before the people and asked them for their votes, 
with the result that he was elected by a larger majority than had ever 
been given to a Whig candidate in his district. \A'hen he went to 
Washington as a member of the House of Representatives, the Little 
Giant was already a member of the Senate. 

A rival of Douglas. When Lincoln's second year in Congress 
came to an end, he returned to Springfield and began to prac- 
tice law again. For several years he was kept so busy with law 
that he did not give much attention to anything else. In 1854, how- 
ever, he began to take an interest again in public affairs. In that year, 
you remember, Douglas opened Kansas and Nebraska to slavery. 
Lincoln felt that by doing this Douglas had done great harm not only 
to the people of Kansas and Nebraska but to the people of the whole 
Nation, and he went before the people and told them so. When the 
Republican party was formed (p. 257), he worked for the election 
of the Republican candidate. Then, in 1858, as you learned at the 
beginning of this lesson, Lincoln came out as a candidate against 
Douglas for a seat in the United States Senate. Lincoln was the 
candidate of the Republicans, and Douglas of the Democrats. So the 
Little Giant and the big giant were now rivals in politics. 

The debate with Douglas. In the campaign for the senator- 
ship that followed Lincoln and Douglas went among the people and 
made speeches from the same platform. Both candidates spoke on 



262 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



the question of slavery, the question about which everybody v^as now 
thinking. Douglas declared that masters ought to be allowed to take 
their slaves into a Territory if the people of that Territory were in 
favor of slavery. Lincoln was opposed to this. He was willing that 

masters in the slave-States 
should continue to hold 
slaves, but he did not want 
slavery to spread ; he did not 
want masters to take their 
slaves into any new Terri- 
tory or State. 

Douglas and Lincoln were 
both excellent speakers, and 
thousands of people from 
all over Illinois flocked to 
Ottawa, Freeport, Galesburg, 
and other towns in which the 
meetings were held. These 
meetings were very exciting. Many cheers went up for the Little 
Giant and many went up for Honest Abe. In the end, Douglas won 
the place in the United States Senate. 

Lincoln was sorry that he did not win, but he took his defeat good- 
naturedly. He felt, he said, '' like the boy that stubbed his toe — it 
hurt too much to laugh, and he was too big to cry." But Lincoln 
really had little cause for regret. In the debates he had shown him- 
self to be a great man, and soon people all over the country were talk- 
ing about Honest Abe and looking to him as the leader of those who 
were opposed to slavery, 

John Brown's Raid. In 1859, the year after the great debates 
between Lincoln and Douglas, the event known as John Brown's Raid 




Lincoln and Douglas in debate. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



2.(^1 






occurred. You learned that in the Kansas troubles a man named John 
Brown killed several slave-State men (p. 256). In October, 1859, 
this same John Brown, with a few followers, went to Harper's Ferry, 
then in Virginia, and undertook to stir up the slaves to rise against 
their masters and declare" 
themselves free. This was 
a very foolish thing to do, 
but Brown felt that slavery 
was a sin against God, and 
he believed that God wanted 
him to strike a blow that 
would set the slaves free. 
Brown and his men seized 
the arsenal at Harper's 
Ferry and armed themselves 
for fighting. They shot sev- 
eral citizens of the town, but 
in a very few hours they were overcome by some soldiers. Brown 
was captured and taken to jail. He was tried for murder and was 
quickly convicted and sentenced. Just before he was hanged, in De- 
cember, 1859, he said: ''You people of the South must prepare 
yourselves for a settlement of this question of slavery, for it is a ques- 
tion that will come up sooner than you expect." 

Honest Abe is elected President. The question came up the 
very next year, for in i860 the people of the country were called 
upon to vote for a new President, and so decide by their votes whether 
slavery was to be allowed in the Territories, or whether it was to be 
kept out of them. 

The Democrats of the North declared that, if the people of a Ter- 
ritory wished to have slaves, they ought to be allowed to have them, 




In a few hours they were overcome by some soldiers. 



264 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

and they nominated Douglas as their candidate for President The 
Republicans nominated Lincoln, and declared that slavery should be 
kept out of the Territories. The Democrats of the South nominated 
John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, and declared that Congress had 
no right to abolish slavery in a Territory. There were four ^ can- 
didates in i860, but the two leading ones were Douglas and Lincoln 
— the Little Giant and the big giant. The Little Giant tried hard to 
win the prize for which he had striven so long, but he was disap- 
pointed. The voters of the country decided in favor of his rival 
and elected Lincoln as President. 

1. Why was Douglas unpopular in the Northern States after the passage of the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill? 

2. Tell the story of the boyhood of Abraham Lincoln. 

3. Give an account of Lincoln as a clerk ; as a soldier ; as a law-maker ; as a 
lawyer ; as a member of Congress ; as a candidate for the Senate. 

4. Tell the story of John Brown's Raid. 

5. Give an account of the presidential election of i860. 

1 The fourth candidate was John Bell of Tennessee. Bell was the candidate of 
the Constitutional Union party. 




OUR COU 




IN i860 



LESSON XLII 

OUR COUNTRY IN 1860 

We have now brought the story of America down to the year i860, 
the year in which Lincoln was elected and in which the Republican 
party came into power. After the election of Lincoln great events 
began to happen — as we shall learn in the next lesson — and so great 
were the changes made by these events that, in some respects, the 
country itself has changed. The year i860 therefore marks a turning- 
point in our history, and, since this is so, it will be well in this lesson 
to learn what kind of a country the United States was about the time 
Lincoln was elected. 

The Frontier Line. Between pages 268 and 269 there is a 
pictorial map which shows the United States as it was about i860. 
Compare this map with the one which shows our country as it was 
about 1820 (p. 204), and you will see that, in forty years, wonderful 
growth was made and that wonderful changes took place. ' You will 
observe that on the 1820 map there is a Frontier Line dividing the set- 
tled territory of the East from the unsettled territory of the West. 
On the map of i860 you see no Frontier Line, because there was then 
no sharp line, running north and south, dividing the settled portion of 
the country from the unsettled portion. By i860 emigrants had 
pushed out into the West in almost every direction and had made 
settlements far apart, here and there, in such a hap-hazard, scattered 
fashion that the Frontier Line had been broken to pieces. Neverthe- 
less, the map shows that in i860 there were still vast stretches of ter- 

265 



266 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

ritory upon which the white man had not yet set his foot and where 
the Indians were still free to roam and hunt. 

The building of the West. The map of 1820 pictures most of 
the country west of the Mississippi River as a wilderness. The map 
of i860 shows this same country divided into States and Territories. 
You have already learned about the building up of some of the country 
west of the Mississippi. You have learned that by 1850 Arkansas, 
Iowa, Texas, and California had been admitted as States. But the 
work of settling the West went on as rapidly after 1850 as it had be- 
fore. Minnesota, which was organized as a Territory in 1849 (p- 
235), was settled so rapidly that in 1857 its population was thirty times 
as great as it was eight years before. So when its people asked to 
be admitted to the Union in 1858, their wishes were granted. In 1861 
the great wilderness lying west of this new State and extending to the 
Rocky Mountains was organized as the Territory of Dakota. 

While Minnesota was filling up with settlers, emigrants were also 
moving out into Kansas and Nebraska. In i860, six years after 
Kansas became a Territory (p. 255), it had a population of more than 
100,000. The next year ( 1861 ) it was admitted as a State. Nebraska 
did not grow so rapidly as Kansas, but it grew steadily. In i860 it 
had a population of about 30,000. The people of Nebraska now felt 
that they were ready to enter the Union, and they asked to be admitted, 
but they had to wait until 1867, when Nebraska was made a State. 

In a few years after Kansas and Nebraska began to be settled, the 
first settlement in Colorado was made. In 1859 a rich gold-mine was 
found near Pike's Peak. When the news of this discovery reached 
the East, there was a rush to Colorado almost as wild and as great as 
the rush to California had been ten years before (p. 235). Within a 
year more than 50,000 gold-seekers made their way out to Pike's 
Peak. It was necessary, of course, that these miners should have 



OUR COUNTRY IN i860 267 

a government, and, in order to give them one, Congress in 1861 
organized the Territory of Colorado. 

Three days after Colorado was provided with a government, Nevada 
was made a Territory. By this time important changes had been 
made in the Oregon country. In 1853 a portion of Oregon was set off 
and organized as Washington Territory, and in 1859 the other part 
of Oregon Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of 
Oregon. 

So, between 1850 and 1861 Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas were 
admitted as States, and Washington, Nebraska, Dakota, Nevada, and 
Colorado were organized as Territories. You should now be able to 
tell how the great West between 1820 and i860 was built up into States 
and Territories. 

Cities in i860. The map of i860 show^s not only a great many 
more States than are shown on the map of 1820, but it also shows a 
great many more cities. Most of the new cities which appear on the 
map of i860 are located west of the Alleghany Mountains. Examine 
this map and you will find Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Milwaukee, 
St. Paul, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Indianapolis. None of them 
appear on the map of 1820. They all sprang up in the great wilder- 
ness of the West between 1820 and i860, and some of them could 
boast of a large population. St. Louis and Chicago each had a popu- 
lation of more than 100,000, and were growing at a rapid rate. 
Of course, the population of the whole country was increasing very 
fast. In 1820 the people of the United States numbered less than 
10,000,000; in i860 there were more than 30,000,000. 

Railroads. On the map of i860 you see trains speeding across 
the country. The building of railroads, which began about 1830 
(p. 219), was continued. Tracks were laid in all parts of the country, 
and year after year the railroad lines grew longer and longer. Be- 



268 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



tween 1850 and i860 about 20,000 miles of railroad were built. By 
1853 there was one road which connected Philadelphia with Pittsburg 
and another which connected Baltimore with Wheeling. Two years 
later, one could travel by train from New York to St. Louis. By i860 
there were several railroads running from the Atlantic Coast to the 
Mississippi River. 

The Pony Express. As yet there were few railroads west 
of the Mississippi. The journey across the plains to the far-ofT Pacific 

Coast was still made in wagons or in 
stage-coaches. The mails from the 
Missouri River to the Pacific were car- 
ried on horseback and were hurried 
along by means of a *' pony express." 
The mail-carrier would mount a spirited 
pony at St. Joseph and gallop at break- 
neck speed about twenty-five miles to the 
first relay station, where there was a 
The carrier mounted the fresh pony and 
dashed away to the next station. At every third station a fresh car- 
rier took the mail. " Day and night, in sunshine and storm, across 
prairie and mountains, the mail-carrier pursued his journey alone." 
By means of the pony express the mail was sometimes carried 2,000 
miles in ten days. 

Life in the days of Lincoln. In the days of Lincoln, houses and 
streets and stores and factories were strangely different from what 
they were in the days of John Adams (p. 177). By i860 houses were 
heated by stoves and hot-air furnaces. Candles were going out of 
use, and oil-lamps were taking their place. It was no longer a difficult 
task to make a fire, for matches were used in every household. By 
i860 the age of steam had arrived. Boats, locomotives, and almost 




The Pony Express. 



pony all saddled and ready. 



OUR COUNTRY IN i860 269 

every kind of machinery were driven by steam. In the cities the 
streets were much better than they were in 1800. They were well 
paved and w^ere lighted by gas. In some cities there were street-cars 
drawn by horses. The telegraph was coming into general use; ex- 
press companies carried packages from place to place; and for three 
cents a letter could be sent to any place in the United States. So, if 
we could go back to the year i860 and get a glimpse of the world as 
it was then, we should find many things looking very much as they 
look to-day. 

1. Why does the Frontier Line not appear on the pictorial map of i860? 

2. Give an account of the building of the West into States and Territories between 
1820 and i860. 

3. Name ten principal cities in the United States in i860. 

4. What can you say of the railroads in i860? 

5. Give an account of the Pony Express. 

6. What can you say of the houses, streets, and factories in i860? 



LESSON XLIII 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN 



What does the word confederate mean? Define assume; devolve; vokmteer ; 
disastrous. Name all the States of the United States in i860. Locate Fort Sumter ; 
Manassas. 

Seven States leave the Union. When the people of the South 
heard that Lincoln had been elected, they were greatly alarmed. They 
believed that Lincoln at heart was an abolitionist (p. 248), and that 
he would take all the slaves away from their masters if he could. So 
the leaders of the South felt that it would be best for the Southern 

States to secede, that is, to withdraw from 
the Union. The first State to leave the 
Union was South Carolina. In December, 
i860, a convention of her delegates declared 
that South Carolina was no longer a part of 
the United States. In the following January, 
Mississippi followed the example of South 
Carolina, and within a few weeks seven 
States, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, 
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, had left the Union. 

No sooner had these States seceded than they began to plan for a 
new Union. In February, 1861, their leaders met at Montgomery, 
Alabama, and formed a government which they called the '' Con- 
federate States of America." They elected as President Jefferson 
Davis, who after the death of Calhoun was the great leader of the 

270 




The Confederate Flag. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN 



271 



South. The new government at once took steps to raise an army, 
and, in place of the Stars and Stripes, it adopted a flag of stars and 
bars. At some of the places along the coast, officers of the Confed- 
erate government took possession of forts belonging to the United 
States, hauled down the American flag, and raised the Confederate 
flag in its place. All these things happened in the early months of 
1861, before Lincoln was inaugurated. 

Lincoln bids farewell to his friends at home. When the time 
came for Lincoln to go to Washington, he left his home in Springfield 
with a heavy heart. He had been watching what the South was doing, 
and he saw dark days ahead both for him- 
self and for his country. When he bade his 
friends at Springfield good-bye he said : 
^' Friends, to-day I leave you. I go to as- 
sume a task more difficult than that which 
devolved upon Washington. Unless the 
great God w^ho assisted him shall be with me, 
I must fail; but if the same almighty arm 
that directed and piloted him shall guide and 
support me, I shall not fail — I shall succeed. 
Let us all pray that the God of our fathers 
may not forsake us now. Friends, one and all, I must now bid you 
an affectionate farewell." There was a look of sadness on the great 
man's face as he spoke these words, and well there might have been, 
for he never saw Springfield and his friends there again. 

Lincoln is inaugurated as President. While Lincoln w^as on his 
way to Washington, he heard that his enemies had made a plot to kill 
him before he should reach the capital. But, if there was such a plot, 
nothing came of it, for he reached Washington safely on March 4. 
1 86 1, He delivered his inaugural address before a great crowd in 




Jefferson Davis. 



272 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




front of the Capitol. As he stepped forward to speak, he took off his 
high silk hat, but could find no place to put it. Senator Douglas, who 
was sitting on the platform, quickly stepped forward and took the hat 
and held it. " If I can t be President," said the Little Giant, " at least 
I can hold the President's hat." 

In his speech the President of course spoke 
of what was taking place in the South. He 
spoke of slavery and of the States that had 
left the Union. He said he did not intend to 
interfere with slavery in the States where it 
was already lawful to hold slaves. The mas- 
ters of slaves in those States had nothing to 
fear. But no State, he said, had a right to 
leave the Union. He begged the South not 
to go out of the Union, and to do nothing 
that would bring on war between the North 
and the South. " We are not enemies," he said, " but friends. We 
must not be enemies." He spoke kindly, but firmly, and the Coun- 
try knew that the seceding States must come back into the Union, or 
there would be war. 

Fort Sumter captured by the Confederates. But the Confed- 
erate States did not intend to come back. The leaders of the South 
felt that they had a right to break away from the Union, and they 
went ahead with their plans for a new government. They had 
already, as we have seen, taken possession of most of the forts along 
the coasts of the Southern States. But there w^as one fort over which 
the American flag still waved. This was Fort Sumter in the harbor 
of Charleston, South Carolina. 

In April, soon after the inauguration of Lincoln, President Davis, 
of the Confederate States, ordered one of his officers to call upon 



Abraham Lincoln. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN 



273 



Major Anderson, who was in command of the fort and demand 
its surrender. Major Anderson had only a handful of men, but he 
refused to give it up. Then the Confederates began to fire upon the 
fort. Major Anderson and his men defended it bravely, but they could 
not hold out, and on April 14, 1861, Fort Sumter was surrendered 
to the Confederates. A Southern leader said to President Davis: 
"If you fire on that fort, you will begin a civil war greater than the 
world has yet seen; you will shake a nest of hornets which will swarm 




Fort Sumter. 



out and sting us to death." The leader was right; the firing upon 
Fort Sumter began the greatest civil war that had yet been fought. 

The call for troops. President Lincoln saw that the attack upon 
Fort Sumter meant war, and he began at once to prepare for it. He 
sent out to all parts of the country a call for men to help in saving 
the Union. He asked for 75,000 volunteers. The answer to the call 
made the heart of the President glad. Every Northern State was 
ready to help. In Massachusetts, a regiment began to march to 
Washington within forty-eight hours after the call for troops was 
made. " You may have 50,000 men," telegraphed the governor of 



274 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




A Union Soldi 



Michigan. " We will furnish the largest number you will receive," 

telegraphed the governor of Ohio. Indiana was asked to furnish 
5,000 men, but 10,000 stepped forward and offered 
their services. And thus it w^s all over the North ; 
the tap of the drum was heard in every village. 

Four more States secede. But the South was 
not frightened by the great armies which Lincoln 
was raising. The Southern leaders went ahead 
with their plans. Before the end of May, 1861, 
Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia 
had withdrawn from the Union and had joined 
the Confederate States. The stars and bars now 
waved in eleven States. The Stars and Stripes still 
waved in twenty-one. 
The battle at Bull Run; Civil War. By July, 1861, there were 

so many Northern soldiers in Washington that the city seemed to be 

an armed camp. And thousands of soldiers from the South by this 

time were pressing upon Washington. 

From the dome of the Capitol, the 

Confederate flag could be seen wav- 
ing over the tents of the soldiers who 

had encamped on the hills of Vir- 

gina. Would the two armies clash? 

Would men who were friends a few 

months before now meet in bloody 

strife? 

Lincoln did not want a war, but 

he saw no way to avoid one. He 

felt that it was his duty to put down armed resistance against the 

Government of the United States, and he ordered the Union troops 




ATLANTIC 
OCEAN. 



Charleston Harbor. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN 



275 



to march against the Confederates. On July 16, about 30,000 Union 
soldiers marched out from Washington to give battle to 22,000 Con- 
federates who were stationed near Manassas, in Virginia, along the 
stream called Bull Run. On July 21 the 
two armies met and the fighting began. 
At first the Confederate troops were 
driven back, and for a time it seemed that 
the Union forces would win. But the 
Confederates rallied their forces and in 
turn drove the Union army back. 
When the Union soldiers found that they 
could not hold their ground, they began 
to retreat, and many of them did not stop 
until they were safe within the city of 

Washington. The battle at Bull Run was a disastrous defeat for the 
Union troops. 

The fight at Bull Run was the first real battle in the struggle which 
is known as the Civil War. It was called the Civil War because it 
was a conflict not between two different nations, but between the 
citizens of the same nation. The Civil War lasted for nearly four 
years. In the next two lessons vou are to learn of its leading events. 




A Confederate Soldier. 



1. What happened in the South just after the election of Lincoln? 

2. Tell the story of Lincoln's farewell to his friends in Illinois. 

3. Tell the story of his inauguration. 

4. Tell the story of the capture of Fort Sumter. 

5. What did Lincoln do after the capture of this fort? 

6. Give an account of the battle at Bull Run. 

7. What is a civil war ? 



LESSON XLIV 

GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE 

Locate the following places : Fort Donelson ; Shiloh ; Fort Pillow ; Memphis ; 
Baton Rouge; Vicksburg; Richmond; Antietam Creek; Norfolk; Hampton Roads. 
Define cavalry, emancipation, proclamation. Where is West Point? What kind of 
school is at West Point? 



General Grant. The story of the long war which began when 
Fort Sumter was fired upon is largely a story of the deeds of two 
great generals, Ulysses S. Grant, the great commander of the Union 
armies, and Robert E. Lee, the great commander of the Confederate 
forces. General Grant was born at Point Pleas- 
ant, Ohio, in 1822. His boyhood was spent in 
working on a farm and attending a village 
school. In 1839 he went to the Military Acad- 
emy at West Point, where he learned the art 
of war. As a student there, young Grant ex- 
celled in mathematics, and at the cavalry drill 
he proved himiself to be the best horseman in 
his class. When he graduated in 1843, he stood 
twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. In the 
Mexican War he fought with his regiment in almost every im- 
portant battle and won much praise for his bravery and skill. 
After the Mexican War was over, he remained in the regular army un- 
til 1854. Then he left it and for several years lived the life of a 

276 




General Grant. 



GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE 2y>j 

private citizen. He settled down in St. Louis, where he undertook to 
conduct a real estate business. But Grant was not a good business 
man. He was nearly always burdened by debts and in need of money. 
In i860 he gave up the real estate business and went to Galena, Illinois. 
Here he was a clerk in his father's store at a salary of $800 a year. 
Although Grant was now thirty-eight years of age, he had accom- 
plished very little in life. And no one thought he ever would do much 
better. He seemed to have lost all ambition, and his nature seemed to 
be asleep. 

But, when Lincoln called for soldiers, Grant awoke to new life. 
He offered his services to the Union army, and before many months 
had passed he showed that he was a man of strength and power. 
He cared not for danger, and he did not seem to know the meaning 
of fear. While a battle was raging and bullets were flying all around 
him, he would sit quietly in his saddle without moving a muscle or 
winking an eye. In fighting, he moved straight against the enemy 
and fought on and on until the enemy was crushed. 

General Grant's first victory was in the West. In February, 1862, 
he led an army of 30,000 men against Fort Donelson, in Tennessee. 
After three days of hard fighting the fort surrendered and 15,000 Con- 
federate soldiers were captured. This was the first important Union 
victory, and it was a most useful one, for it brought a large part of 
Tennessee under the control of the Union forces. 

Shiloh. After his success at Fort Donelson General Grant 
pushed on toward the south. He led his army up the Tennessee 
River to Pittsburg Landing, near Shiloh Church. Here the Union 
and Confederate armies fought for two days. The struggle at Shiloh 
was fierce, but in the end Grant held his position, and the Confederate 
troops moved farther toward the south. 

The Union forces gain control of the Mississippi River. W^hile 



278 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Grant was pushing back the Confederate armies in Tennessee, other 
Union generals were fighting to gain control of the Mississippi River, 
which at the beginning of the war was controlled by the Confederates. 
The Union troops wished to gain control of the river so as to give 
the people of the West an outlet to the ocean and at the same time cut 
the Confederate States into two parts. On the very day, April 7, 



I Carthage Springfield^ 



-i M 1 S S O U\ R V 1 

•Neosho \ belmont .i Colum\>V Bowling Green ^yMi,l.Sphrig..,i.-l_^ 

L — ^:^o NeyM^nd-pP xi^Te^'^u'^^gT ^ ""^^ 

"" . RidgeS_ ' /BLAN^o.Iio Ft.HenryYFt.Don^lsorf^--.-'-^Gaine8boroupn 

Nashville ^Murfreesboro ^<;::^^oxy.lfe 
T E /n N E *S S E 

v7/l Memphis "(pittsburg Wg.JiOokout^y^./:_( —-'/ 

P^nthl-TiibilSh)- ~ MtnJ^g^* ^^^alton / ( 

Ma^iettaV^^Jl^ 

A L/A B /^ M 

.West Point^(-^ V "S^ 




ne^ 



Mtn. 
.ChicViaJi 



\Shreveport , 

Sabine Cr^s* V^ GraL Gulf/ ^''^'^^^i^S^ 

Roads \ ^f*, ^ / * Port Qibson ^ 

NatcI{\toches\-_ . »-xt » u \^ ^ 

Natchez \® '0 



Montgomery^'^ Andei^sonViUe 




jPensacola 



allahassee vj 



_tpo 



Statute MUes 
K B X I C O 



The war in the West. 



on which Grant showed that he could hold his position at Shiloh some 
Union gunboats, assisted by a land force, captured Island Number lo 
in the Mississippi. Two months later the Confederates were com- 
pelled to give up Fort Pillow and Memphis. The Union forces had 
now pushed their way down the Mississippi as far south as Vicks- 
burg. In the meantime, other Union forces were pushing their way 



GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE 



279 



up the Mississippi. In April, 1862, a great Union fleet entered the 
mouth of the Mississippi and, forcing its way past Fort Jackson and 
Fort St. Philip, captured New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The Union 
forces now had control of all the important places on the Mississippi 
except Vicksburg. 

Several attempts were made to capture Vicksburg, but for awhile 
it seemed impossible to take it. The town stood in a strong position, 
and its forts bristled with cannon which swept the river up and down 
for miles. In the fall of 1862 General Grant set out to capture it. 
At first he failed, but he tried again. He surrounded it on all sides, 
and he stormed the place with shot and shell. Still the city would not 
surrender, and still Grant would not give up. Week after week he 
kept on fighting both by day and by night. At last the food supply 
of the city gave out. The Confederates now saw that it was useless 
to hold out any longer, for they could not fight 
the foe of hunger. On the Fourth of July, 
1863, Vicksburg surrendered to Grant, and 
30,000 Confederate soldiers were made prison- 
ers of war. This was a terrible blow to the 
Confederates, for, when Vicksburg fell, the 
Union forces became the masters of the Missis- 
sippi throughout its entire course. 

General Lee. While General Grant was 
in the West, winning victories for the Union, 
General Robert E. Lee was in the East, fight- 
ing bravely for the South. General Lee was 
born in Virginia in 1807. He belonged to one of the oldest and 
most highly honored families of Virginia. His father, Henry Lee — 
*' Light Horse Harry " — had been a brilliant soldier in the War of 
the Revolution. Like Grant Lee attended the Military Academy at 




28o FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

West Point, where he was a hard student ; Hke Grant, also, he fought 
bravely in the Mexican War. 

When the Civil War broke out, Lee was a colonel in the United 
States army. President Lincoln, knowing that Lee was an excellent 
soldier, offered to give him command of the Union armies. A little 
while after this offer was made to Lee, Virginia withdrew from the 
Union and joined the Confederate States. When Colonel Lee saw 
this, he felt that he could not accept the command of the Union army, 
for it would mean that he would have to fight against his own State. 
So he refused the high place offered by President Lincoln. He left 
the Union army and joined the Confederates. 

In doing this he felt that he was doing his duty. He believed that 
Virginia had a right to leave the Union, and he loved his State so 
much that he could not bear to think of fighting against her. " I 
have not been able," he said, " to make up my mind to raise my hand 
against my relatives, my children, and my home. So, trusting in 
Almighty God and an approving conscience, I devote myself to the 
service of my native State." The people of the South rejoiced when 
they heard that Colonel Lee would help the Confederate States, for 
they knew that he was able to do great things for them. 

Lee saves Richmond, Soon after Lee joined the Confederates, 
he was made a general and given command of the Virginia forces. 
His first great task — in fact, his main task throughout the entire 
war, — was to prevent the Union army from capturing Richmond, 
the capital of the Confederate States. President Lincoln believed 
that, if Richmond could be captured, the Confederate government 
would be broken up. Accordingly, in the spring of 1862, the Union 
army marched against Richmond. But General Lee with his army 
met the Union troops and turned them back. So Richmond was 
saved. 



GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE 



281 



The Merrimac and the Monitor. Just about the time the Union 
army was getting ready to march against Richmond, the great naval 
battle between the Merrimac and the Monitor was fought. The 
Merrimac was an ironclad battle-ship belonging to the Confederates. 
On March 8, 1862, the Merrimac suddenly moved out from Norfolk 
and attacked the Union ships in Hampton Roads. It first attacked 
the Cumberland, a wooden ship, which had little chance against the 
ironclad. The shot of the Cumberland glanced from the iron sides 
of the Merrimac like so many peas ; but when the iron beak of the 




The Merrimac and the Monitor. 



Merrimac rammed the- Cumberland in the side, it made a great hole, 
the water rushed in, and the Cumberland went down. The next 
day the Merrimac went forth to sink more Union ships, but it met 
the Monitor, which was also ironclad. On the deck of the Monitor 
was a revolving turret carrying two heavy guns. The fight was now 
between two ironclads, and it was a gallant struggle on both sides. 
Neither vessel won what could be called a victory. Still, when the 
fighting was over, the Merrimac put back to Norfolk and did no more 
harm to the Union navy. 



282 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Manassas (second battle) ; Antietam ; Fredericksburg. But the 

Union troops did not give up their fight for the Confederate capital. 
For three long years they kept trying to capture Richmond, and for 
three years General Lee was able to hold the city for his govern- 
ment. During these years the Union and Confederate troops met each 
other in battle on many fields in Virginia and Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania. In August, 1862, the Union army met the Confederates 
under Lee on the old battle-field of Manassas (p. 275) and was again 
defeated. After this victory Lee crossed the Potomac and marched 
into Maryland. In September he met the Union army at Antietam 
Creek, and a great battle followed. The losses on both sides were 
very heavy, but the Confederates lost more than were lost by their 
foes. After the battle at Antietam Lee led his army back into Vir- 
ginia. In December (1862) he was attacked by the Union army at 
Fredericksburg, and here he won a great victory, for the Northern 
army was defeated with terrible slaughter. 

A few days after the battle of Antietam was fought President Lin- 
coln gave notice to the Confederate States that, if they did not lay 
down their arms and return to the Union before January i, 1863, all 
persons held as slaves within the Confederate lines would be free. 
But when January first arrived, the Confederate States had not laid 
down their arms. So Lincoln held firm to his' purpose; he issued the 
famous Emancipation Proclamation, and millions of slaves were set 
free. 

1. Tell the story of the life of General Grant up to the beginning of the Civil War. 

2. What can you say of Grant as a soldier? 

3. Give an account of General Grant's victory at Fort Donelson and at Shiloh. 

4. Tell the story of the opening of the Mississippi River. 

5. Tell the story of the life of General Lee up to the beginning of the Civil War. 

6. What was Lee's main task throughout the war? 

7. Give an account of the Monitor and the Merrimac. 

8. What was the Emancipation Proclamation? 



LESSON XLV 



GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE (Continued) 

Locate Fredericksburg ; Gettysburg ; Chancellorsville ; Chattanooga ; Dalton ; At- 
lanta ; Savannah ; Appomattox Court-house. Define patience. 

Chancellorsville. At the time the Emancipation Proclamation 
was issued, the people of the North were feehng very sad because 
of the awful defeat of the Union troops at Fredericksburg. But soon 
the Union troops met with another terrible de- 
feat. In May, 1863, the Union army attacked 
Lee at Chancellorsville, but General Stonewall 
Jackson, one of Lee's general's, and next to 
Lee himself the greatest fighter on the Confed- 
erate side, made a dash at the right wing of the 
Union army and crushed it, throwing the re- 
maining part of their army into confusion. In 
the fight General Jackson was wounded and had 
to be removed from the field, but Lee carried the 
Confederates to complete victory. stonewaii jackson. 

Gettysburg. After this great success. General Lee set out to 
invade the North. He led his army across the Potomac and through 
Maryland to Pennsylvania. On July i, 1863, he met the Union army 
at Gettysburg. Here was fought the greatest battle of the Civil War. 
The struggle continued for three days, and both sides fought as if 
everything depended upon the outcome of the battle. Lee tried as 

283 




284 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

hard as he could to break through the Hnes of the Union army, but 
in vain. The Union troops held their ground. On the third day of 
the battle Lee gave up the fight, and led his army back into Virginia. 
Here he remained undisturbed until the spring of 1864 when, as we 
shall presently see, he was attacked by General Grant. 

Grant at Chattanooga. Several months after Grant had cap- 
tured Vicksburg (p. 279), he won another great victory for the North. 
In the fall of 1863 a large body of Union soldiers entered the city of 
Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was quickly surrounded by Confed- 
erate troops. The Union soldiers were held in the city so long 
that food became scarce, and they were threatened with starvation. 
Before it was too late, however. General Grant appeared upon the 
scene with a large army and, after much hard fighting, he forced 
back the Confederates and saved the Union soldiers who were shut 
up in the city. The victory at Chattanooga was one of the most im- 
portant events of the war, for the city was a doorway of travel be- 
tween the West and the East ; and now that the doorway was no 
longer guarded by the Confederates, Union troops of the West could 
pass through it on their way into Virginia and the other Confederate 
States of the East. 

Grant is given the chief command of the Union armies. Presi- 
dent Lincoln was very happy when he heard of Grant's victory in 
the West. " I like that man Grant," he said, " for he wins battles." 
In March, 1864, Lincoln gave Grant the command of all the armies 
of the United States. Grant soon showed that he knew how to use 
the great power that had been given to him, and he began to study 
out a campaign that would bring the war to an end. 

Plans for bringing the war to an end. His plan was this : Gen- 
eral William T. Sherman, one of the greatest generals on the Union 
side, was to take charge of the forces in the West, while Grant himself 



GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE 



285 



was to take charge of those in Virginia. Grant was to lead an attack 
against Richmond, while Sherman was to start from Chattanooga, 
march through Georgia, conquer that State, and then march north- 
ward and join the Union army in Virginia. Both generals were to 
begin their movements on the same day, and both were to keep 
on fighting day in and day out, not stopping for cold or heat, rain or 
snow, or anything else. 

Sherman's march through Georgia. Early in May, 1864, the 
two generals began the campaign which was to bring the war to an 
end. Sherman, starting from Chatta- 
nooga, marched into Georgia. First 
he captured Dalton. Then, fighting 
many hard battles as he went along, he 
pushed on to Atlanta, and in September 
he took possession of that important 
city. In November, Sherman with 60,- 
000 men started on his famous march 
from Atlanta to the sea. His army 
moved across Georgia in four divisions. 
On the march it cut telegraph wires, 
tore up railroad tracks, burned bridges, 

and destroyed property. A strip of land nearly 60 miles wide and 
300 miles long was laid waste. Nothing could stop the advance of 
the great army as it marched onward to the sea. On the 21st of De- 
cember Sherman entered the city of Savannah in triumph. As it was 
about Christmas time he wrote President Lincoln a letter saying, " I 
beg leave to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah." 

But Sherman did not remain in Savannah long, for, according to 
the plan that had been agreed upon, he was to move northward and 
join Grant in Virginia. He followed the plan faithfully. In Jan- 




William T. Sherman. 



286 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



uary he started northward with his army, and by the end of March 
he had become the master of a large part of South CaroHna and had 
advanced far into North CaroHna. 

The fall of Richmond. By the time Sherman reached North 
Carolina, great things had happened in Virginia. Grant, you re- 
member, was to begin 
his march against Rich- 
mond on the same day 
that Sherman left Chat- 
tanooga. So on May 4, 
1864, Grant set out with 
a great army to capture 
the Confederate capital. 
But General Lee was on 
the ground to defend it. 
The two generals met in 
battle after battle, and 
thousands upon thou- 
sands of brave soldiers 
were slain. In some of 
the battles Grant was the 
victor, and in others Lee was victorious. But Grant had the larger 
army, and he pressed onward whether he was winning or losing. He 
went forward very slowly. Month after month passed, and still the 
stars and bars floated over Richmond. But Lee could not hold out 
forever against the larger armies of Grant, and on April 3, 1865, he 
was forced to give up the city he had defended so long. On that day 
the Confederate army marched out of Richmond and the Union troops 
marched in. 

The surrender of Lee. The capture of Richmond marked the 




The war in the East. 



GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE 



287 




The surrender of Lee. 



end of the Civil War, for after the surrender of the city there were 
no more great battles. After Lee withdrew from the city he tried to 
break through the Union lines, but he was checked at every step. 
There was nothing for him to do ., 



but to lay down his arms. On 

April 9, 1865, at Appomattox 

Court House he surrendered, 

with his whole army, to General 

Grant. In the hour of victory 

General Grant was courteous 

and kind. He did not require 

General Lee to give up his sword, 

and he allowed the Confederate 

soldiers to return to their homes. 

Thus the Civil War ended and the Union was saved. The two men 

who had done most to save it were President Lincoln and General 

Grant. 

The reelection of President Lincoln ; his death. At the time the 
war was drawing to its close, President Lincoln was just beginning 
his second term, for in 1864 he had been reelected President, with An- 
drew Johnson, of Tennessee, as Vice-President. In March, 1865, 
Lincoln had been inaugurated for the second time. He was very 
happy, of course, when the war was over, for he could now look 
forward to four years of peace. But his happiness was short-lived, 
for on April 14, 1865, just four years after the fall of Fort Sumter 
(p. 2y^) and five days after the surrender at Appomattox, the great 
Lincoln, while sitting in his box at a theater in Washington, was 
shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who called himself a 
friend of the South. 

The joy of the people over the coming of peace was turned 



288 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

to mourning. The people of the North mourned the loss of their 
great leader because they felt that his patience, firmness and good sense 
had. saved the Union. Even in the South many mourned for Lin- 
coln, for he had promised the people of the South that he v^ould 
be their friend in the hour of need, and they believed him. 

1. Tell the story of Grant at Chattanooga. 

2. In what way did Lincoln reward Grant for his services? 

3. What was Grant's plan for ending the war? 

4. Tell the story of Sherman's march through Georgia. 

5. Give an account of the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee. 

6. Tell the story of Lincoln's death. 



LESSON XLVI 



ANDREW JOHNSON 



What is a freedman ? What is meant by " civil rights " ? Name some of our civil 
rights. Define career ; impeachment ; misdemeanor ; emperor. Name the eleven 
States that left the Union in 1861. Locate Sitka. What is the area of Alaska? 
How many States as large as Illinois could be carved out of Alaska? 

Andrew Johnson. At the time President Lincoln was shot, the 
Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, was in the city of Washington, and 
was sworn in as President a few hours after Lincoln's death. He 
was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 
1808, and was therefore about the same 
age as Lincoln (p. 258), and, like Lincoln, 
his childhood was spent in poverty. When 
Andrew was four years old, his father 
died. Just as soon as the boy was old 
enough, he began to help earn a living for 
his mother and himself. Mrs. Johnson 
was so poor that she could not send her 
son to school, and when, at the age of ten, 
he began to learn the trade of a tailor, he 
could not read a word. Indeed, he did not 
know a single letter of the alphabet. But when he heard others read- 
ing, he made up his mind that he would learn to read too. A kind 
gentleman made him a present of a book, and from that book he 
learned the alphabet and also how to spell and read. 

289 




/^^ 



Andrew Johnson. 



290 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



At the age of eighteen young Johnson decided to make his home in 
Tennessee. With his mother he set out from Raleigh in a two- 
wheeled cart drawn by a blind pony. When he reached Greenville, 
in East Tennessee, he found that he could get work in the village as a 
tailor. So he settled down there and soon married. His wife was 
an educated woman, and she became her husband's teacher. While 
Johnson plied his needle, his wife would read to him. She taught him 
how to write, and gave him instruction in arithmetic, grammar, and 




With his mother he set out for Tennessee. 



other subjects. So Johnson received a fairly good education, although 
he never went to school a day in his life. 

Mrs. Johnson read to her husband books of history, and as the 
young man listened to the stories of great men, he wondered if some 
day he, too, could not become great. He resolved to enter politics and 
become a candidate for public office. He joined a debating society, 
and learned the art of speaking in public. At first he was so timid 
as a speaker that his knees trembled and he was almost afraid of his 
own voice. But with practice he gained courage, and it was not long 
before he was known as the best speaker in East Tennessee. 



ANDREW JOHNSON 291 

At the age of twenty he was elected as one of the commissioners 
(aldermen) of the town of Greenville. This was the first public office 
he held. He was such a good commissioner that in 1830 his fellow- 
townsmen elected him mayor. Young Johnson now began to rise, 
going higher and higher, from one office to another. In 1839 he was 
elected to the legislature of the State of Tennessee; in 1841 he was 
elected to the State senate; in 1843 he was elected to the lower house 
of Congress; in 1855 he was elected as governor of his State; in 1857 
he was chosen as a member of the United States Senate; in 1864, as 
you have already learned, he w^as candidate for Vice-President of the 
United States and was elected ; in 1865 he found himself the President 
of the United States. Thus, step by step, Johnson rose from the very 
humble conditions which surrounded him in his boyhood to the highest 
place in the land. 

A difficult question and how it was settled. President Johnson 
soon found that the task that la}' before him was a hard one, for at 
the end of the war there were many diiiicult questions to be settled. 
Perhaps the most important was this: what should be done with the 
eleven States that had taken up arms against the Union? President 
Johnson was a southern man himself, and he w^as in favor of dealing 
very kindly with these States. He said they had ne\er really left the 
Union, and, now that the war was over, they ought to be given their 
old places and be treated like the other States. He believed that the 
leaders of the South were responsible for the war and that only they 
should be punished, and not the w^hole body of the people in the South. 

But the leaders in Congress took a different view of the question. 
They held that the eleven States by attempting to leave the Union in 
1861 (page 274) had lost their rights as States. There was much 
bitter feeling against the South, and Congress was not in favor of 
restoring the seceding States to their former place in the Union 



292 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

unless they agreed to do certain things. First, they must agree 
to consent to the abolition of slavery ; second, they must agree to give 
the negro the same civil rights that the v^^hite man enjoyed. 

Since President Johnson felt that the Federal Government had no 
right to require these things of a State, a quarrel soon arose between 
him and Congress. The quarrel lasted for several years, and there 
was much bad feeling; but in the end Congress had its will. By 1870 
all the seceded States were back in the Union under the Stars and 
Stripes, having agreed to the demands of Congress : they acknowl- 
edged the freedom of the slave, and promised to give him the same 
civil rights as the white man. 

The impeachment of Johnson. The quarrel between Congress 
and the President became so bitter that the leaders in Congress de- 
cided they would try to get rid of him 
jjl by removing him from office. They 
thought they could do this by im- 
peaching him. They brought charges 
against him in the House of Repre- 
sentatives accusing him of '' high 
crimes and misdemeanors." One of 
the offenses with which he was 

The impeachment of President Johnson. ^^argcd WaS that he had disobcycd the 

law. Johnson had made many enemies among the Representatives, 
and they decided that the charges against him were sufficiently proved 
to warrant his impeachment. The case was then brought before the 
Senate to be tried. The great trial which followed lasted seven weeks. 
At last the Chief Justice of the United States, who acts as president of 
the Senate when a President is impeached, put the question to each of 
the fifty-four Senators present : " How say you. Is Andrew Johnson, 
President of the United States, guilty or not guilty of the high mis- 




ANDREW JOHNSON 



293 



demeanor as charged? " Thirty-live of the Senators voted " Guilty," 
and nineteen " Not guilty." Now, under our Constitution, an officer 
w^ho has been impeached cannot be convicted unless two-thirds of the 
Senators present find him guilty. So if one more Senator had voted 
'' guilty," President Johnson would have been convicted and removed 
from office. As it was, he was acquitted and remained President until 
the end of his term, March 4, 1869. 

The story of Maximilian. During Johnson's presidency, an 
important event happened in Mexico. In 1862- 1863 at the time we 
were fighting the battles of the Civil 
War, the soldiers of Napoleon III, 
Emperor of France, overthrew the 
Mexican government and made Maxi- 
milian, a brother of the Emperor of 
Austria, the Emperor of Mexico. 

Maximilian was an honest, kind- 
hearted man, and he sincerely wished 
to be of service to the people of Mex- 
ico. But, because he was placed 
upon his throne by France, his pres- 
ence was displeasing to the United 
States, for, according to the Monroe Doctrine (page 211), no 
country of Europe ought to be allowed to extend its power in the 
Western Hemisphere. At the time Maximilian was made Emperor, 
however, the Government of the United States was too busy with the 
Civil War to give attention to Mexican affairs. 

As soon as the war was over, we gave the Emperor of France to 
understand that we would not allow the French power to be estab- 
lished in Mexico, and in order to show that we were in earnest, we sent 
an army of 50,000 men to the Mexican border. The Emperor Na- 




Maximilian. 



294 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



poleon then withdrew his troops and left MaximiHan to his fate, al- 
though he had promised to stand by him and protect him from any 
dangers that might arise. When the French troops were gone, Maxi- 
milian found himself alone in a strange country surrounded by ene- 
mies. The poor man was arrested, tried for treason, and found guilty. 
On the morning of June 19, 1867, he was led out from prison and 




Alaska compared with the United States. 

[f Alaska were placed in the United States, the northern boundary touching Canada, 

the southeast corner would reach the Atlantic Ocean, and its islands 

would reach the Pacific. 



shot. After his execution the people of Mexico promptly elected a 
President, and thus reestablished their republic. 

The purchase of Alaska. About the time the French troops 
were leaving Mexico, Alaska came into our possession. It was a 
bleak, barren country and had belonged to Russia for a long time. 
But Russia cared very little for it, and offered to sell it to the United 
States for the sum of $7,200,000. Our Government quickly accepted 



ANDREW JOHNSON 295 

the offer. So in 1867 the Russian flag was lowered on the flagstaff 
in front of the governor's residence at Sitka, and amidst the booming 
of cannon, the Stars and Stripes were hoisted. 

1. Tell the story of Andrew Johnson's early life. 

2. Give an account of his political career, 

3. What difficult question did Johnson have to deal with? How was the question 
settled? 

4. Give an account of the impeachment of Johnson. 

5. Tell the story of Maximilian, 

6. What can you say of the purchase of Alaska? 



LESSON XLVII 



IN THE DAYS OF PRESIDENT GRANT 



Locate Omaha; Sacramento; Ogden, Utah. Define centennial; anniversary; ex- 
hibition; exhibits; exposition. 

When the people were called upon to elect a President to succeed 
Johnson, they chose the man who had done so much during the Civil 
War to bring victory to the Union side — General U. S. Grant. In 
1868 General Grant was elected, and on March 4, 1869, he was inau- 
gurated. When his first term came to an end, he was reelected, so 
that he was President until 1877. 

" Carpet-baggers " and " scalawags." During these years there 
was a great deal of trouble and excitement in different parts of the 

country. In the South there was much 
ill feeling between the whites and the 
blacks. Soon after the negroes were set 
free, they were given the right to vote, 
and in some places they outnumbered the 
whites and so had the majority of votes. 
Where this was the case, they gained 
control of the government and managed 
affairs in a shameful manner. In Ala- 
bama they elected a negro sheriff who 
could not read and a county clerk who 
had been a horse-thief. In the legislatures of some of the States 
there were negro members who were so ignorant that they could 

296 




Carpet-bag government. 



IN THE DAYS OF PRESIDENT GRANT 297 

do nothing but vote when their names were called. Sometimes they 
went to sleep in their seats, and were awakened only in time to cast 
their votes as their leaders told them to. The leaders of the ne- 
groes were in most cases white men who had come from the North 
and who were called '' carpet-baggers," because they frequently 
brought with them nothing but traveling-satchels which were usually 
made of carpet. In some cases, however, the leaders were white men 
born in the South; these were called " scalawags," because they were 
regarded as being worthless, good-for-nothing fellows. 

Carpet-baggers and Ku-Klux Klan. Carpet-baggers, scala- 
wags, and ignorant negroes together did so much mischief that the 
whites felt they would have to defend themselves. They formed a 
secret society which they called the Ku- 
Klux Klan. The chief purpose of this 
society was to prevent the negroes from 
voting, and to punish the carpet-bag- 
gers and scalawags and drive them out 
of the country. Members of the Klan, 

The Ku-Klux Klan. 

wearing white masks, tall cardboard 

hats, and long gowns, and mounted on horses covered with white 
sheets, would visit the homes of negroes at night and leave papers 
containing terrifying pictures and threats of bodily harm if the ne- 
groes went to the polls. "The Klan would also visit the homes of the 
carpet-baggers and scalawags and warn them of the danger that 
awaited them if they did not leave the State. 

But the Klan went further than merely making threats, for in some 
cases it put innocent persons to death. Indeed, the offenses of the 
Klan became so great that Congress in 1871 passed a law giving 
the President powder to arrest and punish the members of the society. 
When the Klan saw that President Grant would deal severely with 




298 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

any of its members who violated the law, the outrages came to an end 
and the Ku-Klux Klan was soon broken up. 

The great fire in Chicago. It was while Grant was President 
that the city of Chicago was swept by fire. On a Sunday morning 
in October, 1871, in a barn on De Koven Street, a woman was milking 
a cow by the light of a small lamp. The cow kicked the lamp over 
and broke it. The oil caught fire, and soon the barn was in flames. 
The fire, being fanned by a strong wind, spread so rapidly that it 
soon got beyond the control of the firemen. It raged all day Sunday 
and Sunday night, and all day Monday. Before it was checked, 
more than 17,000 buildings were burned, more than 200 people lost 
their lives, and property worth nearly $200,000,000 was destroyed. 
But the people of Chicago went to work at once to rebuild the city, 
and it was not many years before a new city rose on the ashes of the 
one that had been destroyed. 

The massacre of Custer and his men. Besides the trouble in 
the South with the Ku-Klux Klan, there were Indian uprisings in 
nearly all parts of the West while Grant was President. It was in 
southern Dakota and Montana that the red men were most trouble- 
some. In these Territories there were quarrels between the whites 
and the Indians because the Indians would not stay on the lands given 
to them by our Government. In 1876 the Sioux became so defiant 
that United States troops had to be sent against them. The soldiers 
met the red men in southern Montana, where there was a large band 
of Sioux braves commanded by their Chief, Sitting Bull. General 
George Custer was sent against them, but his command, consisting of 
himself and 260 men, was suddenly surprised and attacked by a large 
force of Indian warriors. Completely surrounded, Custer and his 
men battled bravely for their lives, but they battled in vain. Custer 
himself was killed and not a man of the whole force was left alive. 



IN THE DAYS OF PRESIDKNT GRANT 



m 



It was one of the most terrible Indian massacres in all our his- 
tory. 

The first railroad across the continent. Much of the trouble 
with the Indians was due to the fact that, just after the Civil War, 
we began to build railroads across the western country, and, in doing 
so, sometimes interfered with the rights of the Indians. The first 
railroad built to the Pacific coast was the Union Pacific, which ran 
from Omaha, Nebraska, to Sacramento, California. This great road 
was built by two companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. 
The Union Pacific drove the first spike at Omaha and built its tracks 
westward. The Central Pacific began at Sacramento and carried its 
tracks eastward. The task of laying tracks two thousand miles 
across the plains and over mountains i 

was the greatest ever undertaken in the 
history of railroad building. 

For several years the work did not 
move along very fast, but the builders 
kept on laying ties and rails and driv- 
ing spikes, and slowly the Union Pa- 
cific crept westward, while the Central 
Pacific slowly crept eastward. At last 
the two roads met at Ogden in Utah. 
Here, on May lo, 1869, two men with 
silver hammers drove into the last tie 
four spikes, two of gold and two of sil- 
ver. After the Union Pacific was com- 
pleted there w^as little use for the pony 
express (p. 268) for men could now 
travel by railroad on swift-flying trains from Maine to Cali- 
fornia. 



^g-f^f ^ ..-.A 




The main building of the Centennial 
Exposition. 



300 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Centennial Exposition. One of the most important and 
interesting events of President Grant's administration was the hold- 
ing of the Centennial Exposition, in Philadelphia in 1876. Its pur- 
pose was to celebrate the one hundredth, or centennial, anniversary 
of the Declaration of Independence (p. 143), and to show the won- 
derful growth which our country had made in a hundred years. 
The exhibition was planned on a large scale and carried out with 
remarkable success. The Main Building was more than a third 
of a mile in length. Forty-nine foreign countries took part in the 
Exposition and more than 50,000 exhibits were displayed. The Ex- 
hibition was the greatest world's fair that had ever been held up to 
that time. 

1. During what years did Grant serve as President? 

2. Give an account of the carpet-baggers and the scalawags. 

3. Tell the story of the Ku-Klux Klan. 

4. Describe the great Chicago fire. 

5. Tell the story of the massacre of Custer and his men. 

6. Give an account of the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. 

7. Describe the Centennial Exposition. 



LESSON XLVIII 



PRESIDENT HAYES, PRESIDENT GARFIELD, AND PRESIDENT ARTHUR 



Rutherford B. Hayes. When President Grant's second term 
was about to end, many of his friends thought he ought to be elected 
for a third term. But thus far no President had ever served more 
than twice, and the people generally thought that two terms were 
enough. So the Republicans, who had elected 
Grant in 1868 and also in 1872, did not nomi- 
nate him in 1876. They chose, instead, Ruth- 
erford B. Hayes of Ohio. 

Hayes, at the time of his nomination, was 
one of the leading citizens of Ohio, but he 
was not widely known outside of his own 
State. He was born in Delaware, Ohio, in 
1822. He went to college and graduated first 
in his class; then he studied law and became 

a successful lawyer. During the Civil War he fought bravely on the 
Union side, entering the army as a major and rising to the rank of 
general. He was in many battles and was wounded several times. 

While he was still in the field, fighting with Grant against Lee, 
he was nominated for Congress. A friend wrote to him, saying 
that he ought to leave the army and come to Ohio in order to take 
part in the campaign for his election. Hayes replied : " An ofiicer 
fit for duty who, at such a time as this, would abandon his post to 
electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be scalped." So Hayes 

301 




Rutherford B. Hayes. 



302 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

remained with the Army in Virginia and let the election in Ohio take 
care of itself. The result was that he was elected by a great ma- 
jority. He served for two terms in Congress and three times he was 
elected governor of Ohio. 

The election of 1876. The Democrats in 1876 nominated 
Samuel J. Tilden of New York as their candidate. Tilden had done 
great things for the people of his State, and had a high reputation 
throughout the country. The contest between Hayes and Tilden 
was very exciting, and both parties worked hard for success. It 
seemed, at first, that Tilden was elected. But a dispute arose over 
the counting of the votes, and for a while there was danger of 
serious trouble. When the question was at last settled, it was decided 
that Hayes and not Tilden w^as elected. So on March 4, 1877, 
Hayes was inaugurated as President. 

President Hayes and the South. Hayes w^as just the kind of 
President the country needed. There w^as still a great deal of bad 
feeling between the North and the South because of the war. Presi- 
dent Hayes thought that the people of both sections ought to forget 
the war, to forgive each other, and be friends again, and he did all 
he could to bring this about. In different parts of the South there 
were still stationed, here and there, soldiers of the United States 
army, and their presence was very displeasing to the southern people. 
One of the first things President Hayes did was to withdraw^ these 
troops from the South. After the soldiers were gone, the people 
of the South began to feel more kindly toward the North ; little by 
little the wounds made by the war began to heal, and, before many 
years had passed, the southern people were again happy under the 
Stars and Stripes. 

James A. Garfield. President Hayes, even before he was elected, 
said that he would not serve as President for two terms. At the 



PRESIDENTS HAYES, GARFIELD, AND ARTHUR 



303 




James A. Garfield. 



end of his term, therefore, it became necessary for the Republican 
party to decide upon another candidate. Accordingly, in 1880, they 
nominated for President James A. Garfield, 
of Ohio, and for Vice-President Chester A. 
Arthur, of New York. 

Garfield was born in 183 1 in a humble log- 
cabin, not far from the city of Cleveland. 
While he was still an infant, his father died 
and left his family in poverty. As soon as 
James was old enough to do any work, he be- 
gan to earn his own living. At the age of fif- 
teen he drove mules on the tow-path of a canal. 
In his early boyhood his education was neg- 
lected, but in his eighteenth year he attended school and learned 
some of the common branches. Then he taught school for awhile, 
went to college, graduated, and became a professor in what is now 
Hiram College. Like Hayes, Garfield served in the Civil War on 
the Union side, and, because he fought so well, he was made a gen- 
eral. Like Hayes, too, he was elected 
to Congress while he was in the field 
fighting for the Union. He made 
such a good record in the House of 
Representatives that he was chosen 
United States Senator from Ohio, but 
before he took his seat in the Sen- 
ate he was nominated for the presi- 
dency. He was elected in the follow- 
ing November. Thus the boy that 
once drove mules on the tow-path rose to be the President of the 
United States. 




At the age of fifteen he drove mules on 
the towpath. 



304 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



The death of Garfield. On March 4, 1881, General Garfield was 
inaugurated. But he was not allowed to hold his high office long, 
for he had hardly begun his duties as President before he was made 
the victim of an assassin's bullet. On July 2, in a railroad station 
at Washington, he was shot in the back by a weak-minded man, who 
had asked him for an office and had been refused. The assassin, 
after a long trial, was found guilty of murder and was hanged. The 
wounded President made a brave fight for his life. For eighty days 
he lingered between life and death. In August his doctors thought 
he might recover if he could be removed from Washington to some 
cooler place. So he was taken to Elberon, New Jersey, where he 
could have the benefit of the ocean breeze. But the change did not 
bring a recovery. The great man still battled for his life, but in 
vain; he sank lower and lower, and on September 19, 1881, he passed 
away. 

President Arthur ; the Navy ; the civil service. On the day after 
Garfield's death, Vice-President Arthur at his home in New York, 

took the oath of office as President. Arthur 
was not then very well known and many were 
afraid that he would not be satisfactory in 
the high office he was called upon to fill. But 
as a matter of fact, he proved to be an ex- 
cellent President. He discharged his duties 
so wisely that his administration was one of 
the very best in all our history. 

It was while Arthur was President that we 
began plans for building up a strong navy. 
For many years after the Civil War we had 
paid little attention to our navy, and it became so weak that by 1880 
we did not have a single good fighting ship. But in that year we 




Chester A. Arthur. 



PRESIDENTS HAYES, GARFIELD, AND ARTHUR 305 

began to build up our navy, and we continued to make it stronger 
and stronger until it became one of the most powerful in the world. 

It was during Arthur's term, also, that we began to manage the 
affairs of the civil service ^ better. You remember that President 
Jackson believed in the "spoils" system (p. 223), and he gave 
offices to men not because they were fit for their duties, but because 
they were his political friends. 

While Arthur was President, the spoils system was in part done 
away with and the merit system was followed. Under the merit 
system, men are appointed to office not because they belonged to 
this or that political party, but because they are fit for the offices 
which they are to hold. Under the system, also, men are not turned 
out when a new President comes in, for they hold their offices as 
long as they behave themselves and do their work well. 

1. Tell the story of the life of Hayes up to the time he became President. 

2. Give an account of the election of 1876. 

3. What did President Hayes do for the South? 

4. Tell the story of the life of Garfield up to the time he became President. 

5. Give an account of his death. 

6. What two important things were done while Arthur was President? 

1 The civil service consists of the whole body of officers and employees of the 
National Government. 



LESSON XLIX 

THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY ; EDISON ; BELL 

The period during which Hayes and Garfield and Arthur were 
Presidents was a time of wonderful things. By means of some re- 
markable inventions, electricity was brought under control, and made 
to perform more services for mankind than had ever been dreamed of 
before. So far is this true that the period ( 1877— 1885) may properly 
be called the beginning of the Age of Electricity. The two men who 
by their inventions did most at this time to make electricity a more use- 
ful servant were Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. 

Edison as an inventor; his improvements upon the telegraph. 
Edison was born in the village of Milan, Ohio, in 1847. When he was 
seven years of age, he moved with his parents to 
Port Huron, Michigan, where he spent the most 
of his boyhood. While at school he stood at the 
foot of his class, and he asked so many questions 
that his teachers thought he was stupid. But they 
did not understand him. He had a very inquir- 
^(^ ing mind, and he asked the questions simplv out of 
^ ^^ curiosity. 

Thomas A. Edison. » . , -r-> i* i , i • 

At a very early age Edison began to earn his 
own living. At first he was a newsboy on the train that ran between 
his home and Detroit. Then he learned telegraphy and became an 
operator, holding positions in Indianapolis, Boston, and other cities. 

306 




THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY; EDISON; BELL 307 

But whatever his occupation and in whatever place he might be, he was 
always making experiments and trying to invent something. 

While young Edison was a telegraph operator, he worked with the 
wires and batteries and magnets, trying all kinds of experiments. It 
happened that one of the offices in which he was employed was in- 
fested with rats. So he set about getting rid of them. He placed in 
the cellar two plates close together, but not touching each other, and 
connected them with a powerful battery. When a rat passed over 
these plates, its fore feet on one and its hind feet on the other, it was 
instantly killed — electrocuted. This was of no great importance, it 
is true, yet it illustrates the way in which Edison went about his work. 
He was always trying to do something practical and useful. When- 
ever he saw that the world was in need of a particular thing, he began 
trying to supply that need. 

His first invention, of course, consisted of improvements in the art 
of telegraphing. Between 1868 and 1878 he secured patents for more 
than a hundred inventions whose purpose was to improve the instru- 
ment used in sending messages. In 1874 he discovered a method by 
which it was possible to send two messages in opposite directions over 
the same wire at the same time without one message interfering with 
another. He received $30,000 for this invention, and it was worth 
the money many times over, for it enabled the telegraph companies to 
save millions of dollars in wire. 

Edison and the electric light. After Edison had done all he 
could to improve the telegraph, he turned his attention to other 
things. About 1878 he began to take an interest in electric lighting. 
Charles Brush, of Cleveland, had just invented the arc-light, made by 
passing a powerful current of electricity between two carbon points. 
This gave as much light as a hundred gas-jets, or several hundred 
lamps. It was excellent for lighting streets, but its painful glare and 



3o8 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

its sputtering rendered it unfit for use within doors. Edison thought 
there ought to be small electric lights, which could be distributed in the 
different rooms of a house, like gas-lights. So he set to work to in- 
vent something of this kind. 

He soon found that the new light would have to be incandescent: 
that is, it would have to be made by sending a current of electricity 
through a filament which would grow intensely hot and give off light 
when the electricity passed through it. He discovered that many dif- 
ferent kinds of substances could be used for making such filaments, but 
which of them would give the best light and last the longest? This 
was the problem which Edison had to solve, and it was an extremely 
difficult one. But he did not shrink from it because it was hard. Day 
and night, month after month he worked, trying to find a satisfactory 
substance. One day, after having experimented with almost every ma- 
terial under the sun, he took a bamboo fan, tore it to pieces, and made 
filaments of it. To his delight he found that this gave the result he had 
so long been seeking. Now, at the pressure of a button, a house could 
be filled with a light that rivals the light of day. In 1880 Edison took 
out a patent for his wonderful invention, and within a few years 
hundreds of millions of his incandescent lights were in use. 

The phonograph. About the time that Edison began to use the 
electric light he gave to the world another wonderful invention. This 
was a talking-machine called the phonograph, invented in 1878. By 
means of this machine the human voice, or sounds of any kind, could 
be recorded and preserved and reproduced at will. Edison exhibited 
his machine at Menlo Park, N. J., where he lived and carried on his 
experiments. Thousands of people went to hear the phonograph. 
When they heard it, they were filled with wonderment, and could 
scarcely trust their ears. They called Edison a wizard, and he became 
known as the " Wizard of Menlo Park." 



THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY; EDISON; BELL 309 

The first phonograph was a crude affair, and it did not do its work 
very well ; but Edison had faith in his machine, and he made for it the 
following claims : " The phonograph will be largely devoted to music. 
It will preserve the sayings of those dear to us, and even receive the 
last message of the dying. It will enable children to have dolls that 
will really speak, laugh, and sing. It will preserve the voices of our 
great men, and enable future generations to listen to the speeches made 
by them." People did not believe that such things were possible, but 
we now know that Edison did not claim too much, for the victrolas, 
graphophones, and aeolians, which are found in millions of homes, are 
simply improved forms of the phonograph which the Wizard of Menlo 
Park invented in 1878. 

Moving pictures. After Edison had invented the phonograph, he 
began to wonder if he could not invent a machine that would do for 
the eye what the phonograph does for the ear — a machine that would 
take pictures of moving objects, and then reproduce them in motion 
just as they appear to the eye. In order to make such a machine it 
was necessary for him to know a great deal about photography. So 
he patiently studied this subject, and after experimenting for years he 
was able to show pictures of objects moving about just as they do in 
real life. The first moving pictures were exhibited about 1895. To- 
day, pictures of this kind are exhibited in thousands of places of 
amusement, and are witnessed by millions of people. So we are in- 
debted to the Wizard of Menlo Park for the convenience of the elec- 
tric light, for the music and other sounds reproduced for us by the 
various forms of the phonograph, and for the amusement and in- 
struction which we receive from the moving pictures. 

Bell and the telephone. About the time Edison was so busy 
making improvements upon the telegraph, another inventor was trying 
to produce something even more wonderful. This inventor was Alex- 



310 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



ander Graham Bell, and the thing he was trying to invent was the 
telephone. Bell was born in the same year as Edison. His birth- 
place was Edinburgh, Scotland, but in 
1870 he came to America. His grandfa- 
ther, his father, and his two brothers were 
all teachers of the science of human 
speech. Bell himself taught in a school 
for the deaf at Boston. 

It was here that Bell made an apparatus 
I /III 1^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ that would receive sounds and reproduce 

them at a distance. He called this the 
telephone, because the word means "" to 
sound afar off," and exhibited it in 1876 
at the Centennial Exposition. The first 
telephone was a mere toy that could be heard only a short distance. 
But Bell kept making improvements upon it, and the distances at which 
the telephone could be heard grew greater and greater. Before many 
years had passed the long-distance telephone made it possible for a per- 
son to talk in New York and be heard in San Francisco. 




Alexander Graham Bell. 



1. What can you say of Edison as an inventor? What great improvement did 
he make upon the telegraph? 

2. Tell the story of Edison and the electric light. 

3. Tell the story of the phonograph. 

4. What can you say of the invention of moving pictures? 

5. Tell the story of Bell and the telephone. 



LESSON L 



PRESIDENT CLEVELAND AND PRESIDENT HARRISON 



Grover Cleveland. In 1884 the Republicans nominated James 
G. Blaine of Maine as their candidate for President. Blaine was one 
of the ablest and most brilliant men of his time. He was well known 
and greatly liked by the people of the country. The Democrats nom- 
inated Grover Cleveland of New York. 

Cleveland was born in New Jersey, in 1837, but while he was 
still a little boy he moved with his fa- 
ther to a village in central New York. 
He received a common-school education, 
but his parents were too poor to send him 
to college. When he was fourteen years 
old, he took a position as a clerk in a vil- 
lage store at a salary of fifty dollars a year. 
At sixteen, he left his home and started out 
to make his own way in the w^orld. He 
borrowed twenty-five dollars and went to 
Buffalo, where he entered a law office and became a lawyer. He 
worked hard at his profession and was soon knowft as one of the 
best lawyers in Buffalo. He was chosen as sheriff of Erie County. 
The city of Buffalo needed a mayor, and Cleveland was elected to fill 
the place. He filled the office so well that he was soon called to a 
higher place, and was elected governor of the State of New York. 

311 




Grover Cleveland. 



312 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

But before he finished his term as governor, he was named by the 
Democrats as their candidate for President. Cleveland was now well 
known in his own State, but he was not well known throughout the 
country as Blaine was. The Republicans felt they had the most 
popular candidate and were sure they would win. At their political 
meetings they shouted: 

'' Blaine ! Blaine ! Blaine ! 
Blaine of Maine! " 
But Blaine was not elected. When the votes were counted, it was 
found that Cleveland had won the prize. 

Cleveland and the tariff. When Cleveland was inaugurated on 
March 4, 1885, there was great rejoicing among the Democrats, for 
he was the first President they had elected since 1865 (p. 257). Cleve- 
land filled the office of President in the same able manner that he 
had filled the offices of mayor and governor. He was straightfor- 
ward and honest, and he always did what he thought was best for 
the country. In 1887 he sent Congress a message in which he said 
the tariff laws ought to be changed. He said the duties — the taxes 
— which were being paid on goods brought into this country from 
foreign countries were too high, and he asked Congress to reduce 
them. But this was not done, for most of the members of Congress 
were in favor of a high tariff on imports. 

Benjamin Harrison. In 1888 the Democrats nominated Cleve- 
land for a second term, while the Republicans nominated Benjamin 
Harrison, of Indiana. Harrison was a grandson of William Henry 
Harrison, who was elected President in 1840 (p. 226), and was born 
in 1833 at North Bend, Ohio. At the age of eighteen he graduated 
at Miami University. Then he studied law in Cincinnati and was 
admitted to the bar. In 1854 he left Ohio and went to Indiana to 
live. He opened a law office in Indianapolis, and that city became 



PRESIDENT CLEVELAND AND PRESIDENT HARRISON 313 




Benjamin Harrison. 



his permanent home. At the outbreak of the Civil War he answered 
to Lincoln's call for volunteers (p. 273). He entered the army as a 
lieutenant, but in less than a v^eek he was made a captain, and in less 
than a month he was made the colonel of a regiment. He fought 
in many battles, and just before the close of 
the war he was made a general because of his 
skill and bravery as a commander. 

After the war had ended. General Harri- 
son went back to his office in Indianapolis 
and again took up the practice of law. In 
1 88 1 he entered the United States Senate as 
Senator from Indiana, remaining there un- 
til 1887. The next year he was nominated 
for President, and defeated Cleveland in the 
election that followed. On the fourth of March, 1889, he entered the 
White House as the chief ruler of the United States, and Grover 
Cleveland went back to New York to live the life of a private 
citizen. 

Six new States. While Harrison was President, the v^^estern 
country was growing very fast, and new States were being formed. 
More States were admitted into the Union during Harrison's term 
than during the administration of any other President. In 1889 the 
great Territory of Dakota was divided into North Dakota and South 
Dakota, and both were admitted as States on the same day. In less 
than a month after North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted, 
the great State of Montana also came into the Union. Three days 
after Montana entered, the State of Washington was admitted. The 
next year, 1890, Idaho and Wyoming came in. Thus, while Har- 
rison was President six stars were added to the flag, showing that 
six new States were added to the Union. 



314 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



The election of 1892. In 1892 President Harrison was nomi- 
nated by the Republicans for a second term. The Democrats again 
nominated Cleveland. The Republicans were in favor of a high 
tariff; the Democrats were in favor of a lower tariff. The majority 
this time were on the side of the Democrats. Cleveland was elected, 
and on the fourth of March, 1893, he entered the White House for 
the second time as the President of the United States. 

The World's Columbian Exposition. In May, 1893, President 
Cleveland opened the great World's Columbian Exposition, which 
was held at Chicago to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary 
of the discovery of America by Columbus. It was officially opened 
in October, 1892, but visitors were not admitted until the May of the 
following year. The cost of the Exposition was nearly $40,000,000 
and the number of visitors was over 20,000,000. In many respects 
the Columbian Exposition was even greater and more successful than 
the Centennial Exhibition had been (p. 300). 

The panic of 1893; the strike in Chicago. During the second 
term of President Cleveland the country, in 1893, passed through a 

panic followed by hard times which 
lasted for several years. During 
this period many factories were 
closed, thousands of laborers were 
thrown out of employment, and in 
many places the distress led to 
strikes and riots. In Chicago the 
Pullman Car Company reduced the 
wages of its workmen. A strike 
was the result, and the employees of 
the many railroads running into Chicago took up the cause of the Pull- 
man men. They refused to handle any trains having Pullman cars. 




ling cars dining the Chicago strike 



PRESIDENT CLEVELAND AND PRESIDENT HARRISON 315 



and a general railroad strike ensued, which spread to twenty-seven 
States. 

The center of the great strike was the city of Chicago. Here 
rioters gathered in the freight yards, and hundreds of cars were 
burned. The carrying of the mails and the movement of freight 
and passengers from one State to another were of course interfered 
with. Now whatever relates to the mails and to commerce between 
States is a matter which comes under the control of the National Gov- 
ernment. President Cleveland felt it his duty to do what he could to 
keep the trains running, so he sent United States soldiers to Chicago to 
deal with the disorder which prevailed in the city. The governor of 
Illinois, Mr. Altgeld, objected to this, for he insisted that the State 
troops were able to deal with the situation. Nevertheless, the Presi- 
dent persisted in sending the soldiers, and, soon after their arrival, 
the rioting came to an end and the strikers went back to their work. 

The election of 1896; William McKinley. At the end of Cleve- 
land's second administration the country 
was still suffering from hard times, and 
there was much discontent among the 
people. So in 1896, when a President 
was to be elected, the Republicans felt 
they had a good chance to win, for they 
blamed the Democrats for the business 
troubles of the country. They nomi- 
nated William McKinley, of Ohio. 

McKinley was born at Niles, Ohio, in 
1843. When the Civil War broke out, 
he was engaged in teaching school. At 
the call for troops in 1861 (p. 300) he entered the Union army. He 
took part in some hard- fought battles, and showed himself a brave 




William McKinley. 



3i6 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

soldier and a good officer. When the war was over, he fitted himself 
for the practice of law and settled down in Canton, Ohio, which w^as 
his home for the remainder of his life. He entered politics, and was 
elected to many important offices. He served for fourteen years in 
Congress, and was a leader in the House of Representatives. At the 
time he was nominated for President, he was governor of Ohio. 

The candidate put forward by the Democrats to oppose McKinley 
was William J. Bryan, of Nebraska. The campaign of 1896 was the 
most exciting that had occurred since i860. Bryan was a young 
man and not well known, but he was a brilliant orator. He made 
many speeches in different parts of the country, and wherever he 
went he drew large audiences. It is said that, during the campaign, 
nearly four million people came within the sound of his voice. Mc- 
Kinley also made many speeches, but he did not travel from place 
to place. He remained at his home in Canton and voters from all 
parts of the country came there to hear him. From his own porch 
he addressed altogether almost a million people. The campaign was 
hard fought, and at times very bitter. When it was over and the 
votes were counted, it was found that McKinley was elected. 

1. Give a sketch of the life of Grover Cleveland. 

2. What can you say about Cleveland and the tariff? 
■ 3. Give a sketch of the life of Benjamin Harrison. 

4. What States were admitted while Harrison was President? 

5. What was the result of the election in 1888? 

6. Describe the World's Columbian Exposition. 

7. What can you say of the panic of 1893 and of the Pullman strike? 

8. Sketch the life of William McKinley. 

9. Give an account of the election of 1896. 



LESSON LI 

PRESIDENT m'kINLEY; THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

The Cubans grow tired of Spanish rule. At the time President 
McKinley was inaugurated (March 4, 1897) the United States was 
greatly troubled by what was taking place in Cuba. You remember 
that in a very short time after America was discoA-ered, Spain gained 
possession of all the islands of the West Indies (p. 22). By 1897 
Spain had lost some of these islands, but she still held Cuba and Porto 
Rico. But most of the people of Cuba had grown tired of Spanish 
rule. They wanted to govern themselves; that is, they wanted their 
island to be free and independent. As early as 1868 the Cubans 
revolted and began to battle for their freedom, and for ten years 
(1868-1878) they fought against their Spanish masters. But they 
fought in vain, for they were defeated by a Spanish army. When 
the ten years' war come to an end, the Cubans were still under Span- 
ish rule, and the beautiful island was a scene of desolation. 

The revolution of 1895. In 1895 the Cubans for a second time 
revolted against the tyranny of Spain. Under the leadership of 
Maximo Gomez they took up arms and made war upon the Spaniards 
who lived on the island, burned their homes, and destroyed their 
crops. Spain again sent a large army to Cuba to crush the followers 
of Gomez. General Weyler, the commander of the Spanish army, 
ordered the common people to be penned up in the towns like cattle, 
and, when he got them penned up, he treated them in a very cruel 

317 



3i8 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

manner. In some cases American citizens, who happened to be in 
Cuba, were the victims of Weyler's harsh treatment. 

The Maine. The Cubans were still fighting when McKinley 
became President, and affairs on the island were growing worse and 
worse. The people of the United States were friendly to the Cubans, 
and many of our citizens wanted our country to send an army into 
Cuba and help the island to win its independence. Of course we 
could not do this without going to war with Spain, and President 
McKinley did not want war. But an event occurred which made our 
people so angry with Spain that it was almost impossible for the 
President to avoid war. In February, 1898, our battleship, the 
Maine, lying in the harbor at Havana, was destroyed by an ex- 
plosive, and two hundred and fifty sailors and officers lost their lives. 
Some of our naval ofhcers made an examination and reported that the 
vessel was sunk by the explosion of a submarine mine, but they were 
unable to say who placed the mine and caused it to explode. Spain 
said she was not responsible for the disaster, but the people of the 
United States felt that Spain zvas responsible, and they demanded 
war. So in April, 1898, Congress declared war against Spain. 

The battle in Manila Bay. The first fighting began on the 
other side of the world thousands of miles away. At the time war 
was declared, Commodore George Dewey was at Hong Kong, China, 
with a squadron of the American Navy. On the day after Congress 
declared war President McKinley sent Dewey the following message 
by cable : " War has commenced between the United States and 
Spain. Proceed at once to the Philippine Islands. Commence opera- 
tions at once, particularly against the Spanish fleet. You must cap- 
ture vessels or destroy." 

Dewey obeyed the President's orders. He started at once with 
his fleet for the Philippine Islands, and at daybreak on the first 



PRESIDENT McKINLEY; THE WAR WITH SPAIN 319 

of May, 1898, he sailed into Manila Bay where the Spanish fleet lay 
waiting for battle. Dewey attacked the Spanish ships, and in a few 
hours they were nearly all sunk or burned. The American ships 
were scarcely injured at all. '* The squadron," said Dewey, in his 
report of the engagement, '' is in as good condition now as before the 



battle.' 



Not a single American was killed. 



On the Spanish side, 




The Battle in Manila Bay. 



ten ships were destroyed, 381 men were killed, and many were 
wounded. Land troops were quickly sent from the United States to 
the Philippines, and on August 12 the city of Manila was captured 
by the Americans. So the Philippine Islands, which had belonged to 
Spain for nearly four hundred years, fell into the hands of the United 
States. 

The call for soldiers. And now we will learn about the fighting 
which took place nearer home. As soon as war against Spain was 
declared. President McKinley called for an army of 125,000 vol- 
unteers. The answer to this call was prompt and came from all 
parts of the country, from North, South, East, and West. Soldiers 
who in the Civil War had fought on the side of the Confederates 
came forward and joined with those who had fought on the side 
of the Union. In fact, one of the leading generals ^- Joseph Wheeler 



320 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



— had been in the Confederate service. Volunteers stepped forward 
so quickly and in such large numbers that by the middle of June 
120,000 men had been mustered in and were ready for battle. 

The battle near Santiago; a naval victory. The fighting in 
Cuba took place near the city of Santiago. In June an army of 
15,000 Americans made a landing a few miles east of this city. 
When landing, some of the soldiers, in their eagerness to be the first 




Landing troops near Santiago. 

on land, jumped overboard and swam to the shore. On July i the 
Americans attacked El Caney and San Juan Hill, the outer defenses 
of Santiago, and after two days' fighting carried them by storm. In 
the struggle for El Caney and San Juan Hill splendid service was 
rendered by the Rough Riders, a regiment made up of all kinds of 
people — hunters, Indians, cow-boys, ranchmen, college graduates. 



PRESIDENT McKINLEY; THE WAR WITH SPAIN 321 

The colonel of the Rough Riders was Dr. Leonard Wood, while its 
lieutenant-colonel was Theodore Roosevelt. 

At the time the Americans were fighting at El Caney and San 
Juan Hill a Spanish fleet, under Admiral Cervera, was lying in the 
harbor of Santiago. On June 3 Lieutenant Richard Hobson under- 
took to ''bottle up" the Spanish fleet within the harbor. He took 
a coaling-ship to the narrow channel leading into the harbor, and 
tried to sink the vessel where it would block the Spanish ships if they 
tried to escape. But he did not sink it at exactly the right place. 
So the Spanish fleet was not bottled up. 

When Admiral Cervera saw that Santiago would be captured by 
the land forces of the Americans, he sailed out of the harbor in the 
hope that he would be able to escape. But an American fleet was 
lying just outside, waiting for the Spaniards to come out. It was 
under the command of Admiral Sampson, but, at the time Cervera 
left the harbor, Sampson was not present to give battle. So Com- 
modore Schley, who was next in command, directed the movements 
of the American fleet. The Spanish ships as they appeared, opened 
fire upon the Americans, and at the same time steamed westward 
with all the speed they could make, trying to get away in safety. 
But Schley did not allow the Spaniards to escape. He closed in 
upon the fugitives with a hot fire, and within four hours the Spanish 
fleet was destroyed with a loss of about 350 men. The Americans 
lost but one man. Soon after the destruction of the Spanish fleet 
the city of Santiago surrendered (July 17, 1898). A few days 
later Porto Rico was captured by the Americans under General Miles. 

The results of the Spanish War. After the surrender of 
Santiago and the capture of Porto Rico the Spaniards gave up the 
fight, and a treaty of peace was made. By its terms Spain agreed 
to surrender her claim to Cuba and to give Porto Rico to the United 



122 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

States. Later on, Spain also agreed to surrender the Philippine 
Islands to the United States, receiving for them the sum of $20,- 
000,000. While the war was going on, the Hawaiian Islands were 
annexed to the United States. So, when the Spanish war was over, 
the Philippine Islands, Porto Rico, and Hawaii belonged to the United 
States, and Cuba was free. 

The election of 1900. President McKinley was greatly liked by 
the people and when his first term was about to end the Republicans 
were glad to nominate him again. So in the election of 1900 he was 
the Republican candidate for President, while the Republican can- 
didate for Vice-President was Theodore Roosevelt, of New York. 
The Democrats nominated William J. Bryan again. The Socialists 
nominated Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana. The result of the election 
was a victory for the Republicans. 

The death of President McKinley. On the fourth of March, 
1901, McKinley was again inaugurated, but he did not live through 
his second term. In September, 1901, he visited the Pan-American 
Exposition at Buffalo. On the sixth of September he held a public 
reception in the Temple of Music, giving a personal greeting to all who 
wished to meet him. In the long line of people who came to shake 
hands with the President was a young man whose right hand seemed 
to be covered with a bandage. But hidden under the bandage was a 
revolver. When the man approached the President, he quickly un- 
covered the revolver and fired two bullets into the President's body. 
He was about to fire a third bullet, but, before he could do this, 
he was seized and overpowered. After the President was shot, he 
stood for a moment in a dazed condition and then fell backward. 
He lingered for a few days, and on September 14 he died. 

For the third time a President of the United States had been killed 
by the hand of an assassin. The President's body was taken first 



PRESIDENT McKINLEY; THE WAR WITH SPAIN 323 

to Washington, where impressive ceremonies were held; then it was 
taken to Canton, Ohio, for burial. At the hour of the burial people 
all over the land, out of respect and sympathy, stopped their work. 
For a few minutes all trains stood still, all workmen laid down their 
tools, and all business was suspended. This expression of sorrow 
was genuine, for the President was a lovable man, and the people 
mourned for him as they mourn for one who has won their affection. 

1. What can you say of the ten years' war iit Cuba? Of the second revolution in 
Cuba? 

2. Give an account of the destruction of the Maine. 

3. Tell the story of Dewey at Manila, 

4. What can you say of the President's call for volunteers? 

5. Give an account of the fighting at El Caney and San Juan Hill. 

6. Tell the story of the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Santiago. 

7. What were the results of the Spanish-American War? 

8. Who were the candidates for President in 1900? What was the result of 
the election? 

9. Give an account of the death of President McKinley. 



LESSON LII 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



Vice-President Roosevelt becomes President. On the after- 
noon of September 13, 1901, a message was brought to Theodore 
Roosevelt informing him that President McKinley had but a few 
hours to live. At the time the message was received, Mr. Roosevelt 

was on a tramping trip in the heart 
of the Adirondack Mountains. As 
soon as he heard the news, he de- 
cided to go at once to Buffalo. He 
was thirty miles from the nearest 
railway-station and the road leading 
to it was only a broken mountain 
path. After a great deal of trouble 
he managed to get a driver, with a 
mountain wagon, and the long and 
dangerous journey was begun just 
before midnight. It was made in 
darkness and rain. About daybreak 
the station was reached. When Mr. 
Roosevelt leaped from the wagon, a telegram was given him inform- 
ing him that the President was dead. He hurried on to Buffalo as 
fast as the fastest express could carry him, and, before the day ended, 
he had taken the oath of office and been sworn in as President of the 
United States. 

324 




Theodore Roosevelt. 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 325 

The career of Theodore Roosevelt. When President Roosevelt 
entered upon his duties, he was only forty-two years old and was 
the youngest man that had ever occupied the presidential chair. But 
although the new President was not a very old man, he was neverthe- 
less a man whose name was a familiar one to millions of his country- 
men. Theodore Roosevelt was born in the city of New York in 
1858. His parents were wealthy and could afford to give their son 
a good education. He attended the public schools, studied under 
private teachers, and entered Harvard University, where he graduated. 
He was very fond of sports and outdoor life. At his father's 
country place on Long Island he learned to ride and row and swim. 
He was also fond of the wild life of the West. For several years 
he lived the life of a ranchman, and he was always happy when 
he was with cowboys and trappers and hunters. While he was out 
on the plains he endured all the hardships of a ranchman's Hfe. 
Sometimes he was in the saddle for twenty- four hours at a time ; 
sometimes he would sleep all night in the snow. During his residence 
among them young Roosevelt learned to like the Western people, and 
they learned to like him. 

Roosevelt began his public career almost as soon as he was out 
of college. When he was only twenty-three years of age, he was 
elected to a seat in the legislature of New York. He was the young- 
est man there, but in spite of his youth he pushed forward and 
became the leader of his party — the Republican party. While 
Roosevelt was on his ranch in the West, he received the news that 
he had been nominated as a candidate for mayor of the great 
city of New York. He started at once for the East and was soon in 
New York city taking a part in the campaign. He was not elected, 
but during the campaign he showed the people of the city that he 
was a very strong man. 



326 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

While Harrison was President, Roosevelt was a member of the 
Civil Service Commission. His duty in this office was to help in 
carrying out the civil service reforms, which you remember w^ere 
undertaken when Arthur was President (p. 305). Roosevelt hated 
the spoils system, and while he was a member of the commission 
he worked hard for the merit system. 

In 1895 Roosevelt was placed at the head of the Police Board 
of New York City. In this office he carried on a bitter warfare 
against thieves and gamblers and law-breakers. He went about the 
city at night to see for himself if the policemen were doing their 
duty, and every patrolman who was found out of his place was pun- 
ished. In 1897 Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy. While in the office, he did much to build up our navy, for 
he believed that the United States ought to have many big and pow- 
erful ships. Roosevelt ^ave up his office of Assistant Secretary 
of the Navy in order that he might take part in the Spanish- 
American War (p. 321). After the war was over, he was elected 
governor of New York. In 1900, as you have already learned, he 
was elected Vice-President. So, when he became President in Sep- 
tember, 1901, he w^as widely known as a man who had held many 
public offices and who had rendered good service in every office he 
had held. 

The coal strike. In 1902 President Roosevelt had an oppor- 
tunity to show that he was a friend of the people. In the spring 
of that year the coal-miners of Pennsylvania struck for higher wages. 
They were led by John Mitchell, who had once worked in the coal- 
mines, but who in his spare hours had studied hard and educated 
himself. Mitchell asked the owners of the coal-mines to meet the 
leaders of the miners in conference, so that the mine-owners and 
miners could come to some agreement about the wages. But the 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



327 



mine-owners would not meet the miners, and the strike continued. 
All through the summer and far into the autumn the miners remained 
idle. When cold weather came on, the price of coal began to rise, 
for no coal was being mined. In September the price rose to twelve 
dollars a ton, and by October it was thirty dollars a ton. In many 
places there was no coal for the school-houses, the hospitals were 
without fuel, and the poor shivered in their homes, for they could 
not pay these high prices. So President Roosevelt felt that it was 
his duty to settle the strike if he could. He invited Mr. Mitchell and 




The Panama Canal. 



the mine-owners to come to Washington and have a talk with him. 
They came, and the President told them that the strike ought to 
end at once, and that the miners ought to go back to work and begin 
to mine coal for the freezing people. Mr. Mitchell was willing that 
the miners should at once do this if the mine-owners would agree to 
submit the dispute to a commission to be appointed by the President. 
The owners at first did not want to do this, but they at last con- 
sented. So a commission of five men was appointed by the President 
to settle the quarrel, and the miners went back to their work. 

The Panama Canal. For a long time the people of the United 



328 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

States wished for a ship-canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Look 
on a map of the Western Hemisphere and you can see the advantages 
of such a canal. In a journey by water from New York to San 
Francisco a canal across the Isthmus saves a distance of more than 
8000 miles. In 1881 a French company began to dig a canal across 
the Isthmus, but it did not go far with the work. In 1902 President 
Roosevelt felt that the time had come for the United States to build 
the canal. So he asked Congress for the necessary money. This 
was granted, and the President went ahead with his plans. There 
was some difficulty in securing a right of way across the Isthmius, 
but the President overcame that, and a right of way was secured in 
1904. Then the task of building the canal was taken up in ear- 
nest. In 1906 the dirt began to fly, and eight years later the canal 
was finished and vessels were passing through it from ocean to 
ocean. 

The election of 1904. In 1904 the Republicans named Mr. 
Roosevelt as their candidate for President. The Democrats nom- 
inated Alton B. Parker, of New York. The Socialist Party for the 
second time nominated Mr. Debs. Roosevelt was elected by a very 
large majority. 

During the second term of President Roosevelt Congress passed 
two very important laws. One of these was a law which gave the 
Interstate Commerce Commission — the commission which regulates 
railroads running from one State to another — the power to fix the 
rates charged by railroads. Under this law if a shipper (or a pas- 
senger) thinks that a certain rate charged by a railroad is unjust, 
he can make a complaint to the commission, and if the Commission 
also thinks that the rate complained of is unjust, it is done away with 
and a new rate is fixed. The other important law passed by Con- 
gress was the Pure Food Act. The purpose of this law is to prevent 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 329 

manufacturers and food companies from dealing in impure drugs 
and foods. 

1. When and where did Vice-President Roosevelt become President? 

2. Sketch the early life of President Roosevelt. 

3. Sketch his public career. 

4. Tell the story of the coal strike. 

5. Tell the story of the Panama Canal. 

6. Who were the candidates for President in 1904? Who was elected? 

7. What two important laws were passed during the second term of President 
Roosevelt ? 



LESSON LIII 



PRESIDENT TAFT AND PRESIDENT WILSON 



Mr. Taft is elected President. In 1908 the Republicans nomi- 
nated William Howard Taft as their candidate to succeed President 
Roosevelt. The Democrats for the third time nominated Mr. Bryan, 
and the Socialists nominated Mr. Debs for the third time. 

Mr. Taft was born in Cincinnati in 1857. He was graduated from 

the Woodward High School in Cincinnati, 
from Yale College, and from the Law 
School of Cincinnati University. During 
his school-days he divided his time wisely 
between study and play. While indoors 
he gave his whole attention to his books; 
but when study hours were over he en- 
tered heartily into outdoor sports and 
played with all his might. He was a big, 
strong fellow, and in a rope-pulling con- 
test he could pull harder than any man in 
his class. 

He began to hold office when he was only twenty- four years of 
age. First he became one of the prosecuting attorneys of his county, 
and then, in succession, judge of a State court, solicitor-general of 
the United States, judge of a United States court, governor of the 
Philippine Islands, secretary of war under President Roosevelt; and, 

330 




William H. Taft. 



PRESIDENT TAFT AND PRESIDENT WILSON 331 

finally, President of the United States; for in the election of 1908 he 
was successful. Ohio could now share equally with Virginia in the 
honor of being the " Mother of Presidents," for, of the twenty-six 
men who up to 1908 had served as Presidents, six — Washington, 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Tyler, and W. H. Harrison — were from 
Virginia, and six — Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, 
McKinley, and Taft — were born in Ohio. 

The administration of President Taft (1909-1913). Our coun- 
try enjoyed peace and quiet while Mr. Taft was President, but many 
important things were done during his administration. In 19 10 Con- 
gress established a system of postal savings-banks. These are man- 
aged by the Post-office Department, and are located in thousands of 
post-offices scattered over the country. Any person of the age of ten 
years or over may deposit in a postal bank any sum not less than one 
dollar or more than five hundred dollars, and receive two per cent, 
interest on the amount deposited. Our people have made good use 
of the postal banks, and have deposited in them many millions of 
dollars. 

The parcel-post system was also established during the Taft admin- 
istration. By means of the parcel post, packages weighing as much 
as fifty pounds can be sent through the mails at little cost, the rate 
being fixed according to the weight of the package and the distance 
it is to be carried. The parcel post proved to be very popular, and 
within a few years after it was established there were carried every 
year in the mails more than a billion packages. 

During the Taft administration two new States were brought into 
the Union. These were New Mexico and Arizona, both of which 
were admitted in 1912. Five years before, while Mr. Roosevelt was 
President, Oklahoma was admitted. When Oklahoma came into the 
Union, it was already a great and powerful State, for its population 



332 



FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



was nearly 1,500,000. The admission of Oklahoma, New Mexico, 
and Arizona completed the organization of the forty-eight States of 
which our great nation consists. 

Mr. Wilson is elected President. In 1912, when Mr. Taft's 
term of office was drawing to a close, the Republicans nominated him 

for a second term. The Democrats in 
that year nominated Woodrow Wilson of 
New Jersey. A new party, called the 
Progressive Party, nominated ex-Presi- 
dent Roosevelt as its candidate. The So- 
cialists for the fourth time nominated Mr. 
Debs. 

Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic can- 
didate, was born in Staunton, Virginia, in 
1856. He attended several schools in the 
South, but a valuable part of his early edu- 
cation was received from his father, who 
was a preacher and a very learned man. At the age of nineteen 
young Wilson entered Princeton College, where he soon became a 
leader among his classmates. He took a lively interest in athletics, 
especially in the game of baseball. But the thing he cared most for 
while at college was the study of government. He read many books 
about this subject and learned all he could about public affairs. After 
he graduated from Princeton he studied law and became a lawyer. 
But he soon gave up the practice of law and became a teacher. And 
a very successful teacher he was. 

After holding important positions in several different colleges he 
was elected (in 1902) president of Princeton University. In 1910 
he gave up this position and entered politics. He proved to be as 
successful a politician as he had been a teacher. In less than a year 




Woodrow Wilson. 



PRESIDENT TAFT AND PRESIDENT WILSON ^ S33 

after he left Princeton he was elected governor of New Jersey, and 
i in less than three years after he entered public life he was holding 
the highest office in the land; for in the presidential election of 1912 
he received the highest number of votes, and on March 4, 19 13, he was 
inaugurated as President of the United States. Virginia was now 
in the lead as the " Mother of Presidents," for Wilson was one of 
her sons. 

The administration of President Wilson (19 13- ). In the 
first year of President Wilson's administration the country was as 
peaceful as it had been while Mr. Taft was President. During this 
period Congress passed a number of important laws. It established 
a new system of banks, it levied a tax on incomes, it reduced the tariff 
on many important articles, it established a Federal Trade Commis- 
sion and gave it power to prevent business concerns from using unfair 
methods in competing for trade with one another. 

In the second year of President Wilson's administration difficult 
problems began to arise. First, there was trouble with Mexico. 
Just before Wilson was inaugurated Francisco Madero, the president 
of Mexico, was assassinated. General Huerta at once took control 
of the Mexican Government and acted as president. President Wil- 
son did not think that Huerta was the rightful president of Mexico, 
and would not recognize him as such. Many of the people of Mexico 
also were opposed to Huerta, and there was a revolution against his 
authority. This revolution was led by General Carranza, and much 
fighting followed. Gradually the United States became involved in 
the Mexican difficulty. American citizens living in Mexico were 
killed and their property destroyed. 

In the spring of 19 14 several sailors belonging to our navy were 
arrested by the followers of Huerta at Tampico and were roughly 
treated. Soon after this, President Wilson sent our fleet against 



334 FIRST LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Vera Cruz, and the city was quickly captured. It was held until 
November, 19 14, when our troops sailed away. By this time Huerta 
was overthrown and Carranza was claiming to be the president of 
Mexico. In 191 5 President Wilson recognized Carranza as the head 
of the Mexican Government. But this did not end the trouble with 
Mexico. For in March, 191 6, Francisco Villa, who had been one 
of Carranza's generals, but had turned against his chief, led a band 
of outlaws across the Mexican border into New Mexico and killed 
nine American citizens. In a few days after this outrage a large 
force of American soldiers were sent into Mexico to pursue Villa and 
his band and punish them for their deeds. 

While President Wilson was having these difficulties with our 
next-door neighbor at the south, he was also having trouble with a 
nation across the sea. In August, 1914, a great war broke out in 
Europe, and soon Germany and Austria were fighting against Great , 
Britain, France, Italy, and Russia. Germany did not send her battle- 
ships out to sea, because she did not wish to meet the powerful navy 
of Great Britain. But she sent out her submarines, and these under- 
sea vessels sank British ships wherever they could find them. In 
May, 191 5, a German submarine attacked the Litsitania and, without 
any warning, sent the great liner to the bottom of the ocean. Almost 
twelve hundred persons were drowned. Of those who lost their 
lives, more than one hundred were American citizens. The United 
States believed that, according to the law of nations, Germany had 
no right to sink merchant ships like the Liisitania without first giving 
warning and providing for the safety of the persons on board. So 
President Wilson informed Germany that if her submarines should 
sink any more merchant ships without warning, and thereby again 
destroy the lives of Americans, the Government of the United States 
would hold the German Government responsible for the injury done 



PRESIDENT TAFT AND PRESIDENT WILSON 335 

to American citizens. For a time Germany paid little attention to 
the desires of our Government. Her submarines continued to sink 
merchant vessels, and more American lives were lost. In April, 
1916, President Wilson sent a last word to Germany on the subject. 
He told the German Government that it must order the commanders 
of its submarines to sink no merchantmen without first providing for 
the safety of the persons on board, and said that, if Germany failed 
to do this, the Government of the United States would have nothing 
more to do with the Government of Germany. This time Germany 
yielded and promised to conduct her submarine warfare in the man- 
ner demanded by the Government of the United States. 



Abolitionists, 248 

Adams, John, 138, I74-I75 

Adams, John Quincy, 214, 215, 220, 

Adams, Samuel, 132-136, 139, 142 

Alabama, 201, 270 

Alaska, 294 

Albany, 148 

Allen, Ethan, 157 

Altgeld, Governor, 315 

Amidas, Philip, 34 

Anderson, Major, 273 

Andre, Major, 158 

Animals, 10 

Antietam, 282 

Appomattox, 287 

Arc light, 307 

Arizona, 331 

Arkansas, 218, 274 

Armada, the Invincible, 30-31 

Arnold, Benedict, 150, 157-159 

Articles of Confederation, 161-164 

Arthur, Chester A., 303, 304 

Atlanta, 285 



B 



INDEX 

Bible, Commonwealth, 67 
Billy Bowlegs, 208 
Birds, 10 
Blackbeard, 75 
221 Black Hawk, 260 

Bon Homme Richard, 156 
Boone, Daniel, 125-128, 202 
Boonesborough, 128 
Booth, John Wilkes, 287 
Boston, 61, 63, 133, 137, 141 
Boston Massacre, 134 
Braddock, General, 119, 120 
Bradford, William, 53-58 
Brandywine, 148 
Breckenridge, John C, 264 
Brewster, 53-54 
Brooklyn, 145 
Brown, John, 256, 263 
Brush, Charles, 307 
Bryan, W. J., 316, 322, 330 
Buchanan, James, 257 
Buena Vista, 230 
Buffalo, 216 
Bull Run, 274 
Bunker Hill, 141 
Burgoyne, John, 148 



Backwoods, the, 128-129 

Bacon, Nathaniel, 71 

Balboa, 21 

Baltimore, Lord, y2 

Barlow, Arthur, 34 

Barry, John, 155 

Bears, 204 

Bell, Alexander Graham, 309 

Bell, John, 264 

Bennington, 148 

Berkeley, Sir William, 71-72 

Bible, the, loi 



Cabot, John, 22-33 

Calhoun, John C, 246, 250 

California, 29, 230, 232, 235-237, 250, 251 

Calvert, Cecil, 72 

Calvert, George, 72 

Calvert, Leonard, 72 

Camden, 157 

Canada, 47, 1^3 

Carpet-baggers, 296 

Carranza, General, 333 

Carroll, Charles, 219 



337 



338 



INDEX 



Carteret, Philip, 78 

Carteret, George, 78 

Cartier, Jacques, 46 

Carver, John, 56, 57 

Catechism, loi 

Catholics, 5, 104 

Celeron, 108 

Centennial Exposition, 300 

Cerro Gordo, 231 

Cervera, Admiral, 321 

Champlain, Samuel, 47-49 

Chancellorsville, 283 

Charles I, 61 

Charles II, 74, 17, 80 

Charleston, 74, 86 

Chattanooga, 284 

Chicago, 195, 267, 298 

Chilton, Mary, 56 

Churches, 95 

Cincinnati, 178 

Cities, 4, 5, 176, 267 

Civil Service, the, 304 

Claiborne, William, 198 

Clark, George Rogers, 1 53-154 

Clark, WilHam, 202 

Clay, Henry, 225, 229, 247, 250 

Clermont, the, 193 

Cleveland (city), 179 

Cleveland, Grover, 311-312, 314-315 

Clinton, De Witt, 215, 217 

Coaches, 7 

Coal strike, 326 

Colorado, 266 

Columbus, Christopher, 14-20, 21 

Compromise of 1850, 251 

Concord, 139, 141 

Congress, 162, 165 

Confederate States, 270, 274 

Connecticut, 64-67 

Constitution of the United States, 164- 

166 
Constitution, the, 185 
Continental Congress, 138, 142 
Cooking, 90 

Cornwallis, General, 159 
Cortez, 21 
Cotton-gin, 196-198 



Creeks, the, 200 

Cuba, 19, 317, 321 

Custer, General George, 298 



Dakota, 266 

Dare, Virginia, 36 

Davenport, John, 66 

Davis, Jefferson, 270, 272 

Dayton, 179 , v 

Dearborn, Fort, 194 

Debs, Eugene V., 322, 328, 330 

Declaration of Independence, 143 

Delaware, 79-80 

Democrats, 264, 312 

De Soto, 21 

Detroit, 125 

Dewey, George, 318 

Dinwiddie, Governor, 112, 119 

District of Columbia, 250 

Donelson, 277 

Douglas, Stephen A., 253-256, 258, 261- 

263, 272 
Dover (New Hampshire), 68 
Drake, Sir Francis, 28-31 
Dutch, the, 50-52, 77 
Dustin, Hannah, in 
Duquesne, Fort, 119 
Duke of York, 78 
Duxbury, 58 



Eaton, Theophilus, 66 

Edison, Thomas A., 306-309 

El Caney, 320 

Electric telegraph, 242 

Electricity, age of, 306-310 

Elizabeth, Queen, 29, 33, 35 

Elizabethtown, 78 

Emancipation Proclamation, 282 

Endicott, John, 60 

England, 22, 26-28, no, 123, 137, 172 

Ericson, Leif, 24 

Erie Canal, 215-218 

Europe, 4-8 



INDEX 



339 



Ferdinand, 15-16 

Fillmore, Millard, 2Z2>, 252 

Fish, 10, 27 

Florida, 21, 46, 209, 270 

Food of the colonists, 92 

Forests, 9 

France, 46-49, 104, no, 123, 151, 171, 175 

Franklin, Benjamin, 117-119, 150 

Fredericksburg, 282 

Fremont, John C, 232, 257 

Frontier Line, 84, 179, 206, 265 

Fulton, Robert, 193-194 

Furs, SI 



Gage, General, 139, 141 

Games, 102 

Garfield, James A., 30:2-304 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 249 

Gas, 177, 269 

Gates, Horatio, 150 

George III, 133 

Georgia, 83-84, 270, 285 

Germany, 334 

Gettysburg, 283 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, ZZ> 34 

Gold, discovery of, 235, 236 

Gomez, Maximo, 317 

Grant, Ulysses S., 276-279, 284-287, 296- 

300 
Great Harry, the, 27 
Great Meadows, 115 
Greene, Nathanael, General, 159 
Guerriere, the, 185 



H 



Haiti, 19 

Half Moon, the, 50, 79 
Hamilton, Alexander, 168-170 
Hampton Roads, 281 
Hancock, John, 139, 142 
Harlem, 146 
Harper's Ferry, 263 
Harrod, James, 127 



Harrodsburg, i-iy 

Harrison, Benjamin, 312-314 

Harrison, William Henry, 190-192, 225- 

227 
Hartford, 65 
Hawaii, 322 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 301-302 
Heating, 90 
Henry VII, 22 
Henry, Patrick, 131, 138 
Hessians, 147 
Hobson, Richard, 321 
Holland, 50 

Hooker, Thomas, 64-66 
Houses, 89, 177, 268 
Howe, Elias, 243-245 
Howe, General, 145, 147 
Hudson, Henry, 50-52, 79 
Hudson River, 50 
Huerta, General, ^Zi 
Hull, Isaac, 185 
Hutchinson, Anne, 68 
Hutchinson, Thomas, 135 

I 

Idaho, 313 

Illinois, 108, 194, 195 

Impeachment, 292 

Impressment, 182 

Incandescent light, 308 

Independence, Declaration of, 143 

India, 19 

Indiana, 190-192, 194, 274 

Indians, 10-13, 40-42, 48-49, 71, 81, 170 

204, 298 
Interstate Commerce Commission, 328 
Invincible Armada, the, 30-31 
Iowa, 234, 235 
Iroquois Indians, 48, in 
Isabella, 15-16 



Jack-knives, 102 

Jackson, Andrew, 186, 200, 209. 219-221, 

222-225 
Jackson, Stonewall, 283 



340 



INDEX 



Jamestown, 38, 39-45 

Jay, John, 138 

Jay's Treaty, 172 

Jefferson, Thomas, 138, 143, 168, 181-183, 

198 
Jesuits, 104 

Johnson, Andrew, 287, 289-293 
Johnson, Sir William, 122 
Joliet, Louis, 105 
Jones, John Paul, 156 

K 

Kansas, 255, 257, 266 
Kaskaskia, 154, 155 
Kearney, Stephen, 232 
Kentucky, 126-128, 175 
Key, Francis Scott, 186 
King Philip, 66- 
Knox, Henry, 168 
Ku-klux Klan, 297 



Lafayette, General, 152, 159 

Lane, Ralph, 35 

La Salle, 106 

Lee, Robert E., 279^282, 286, 287 

Lewis, Meriwether, 202 

Lexington, 139, 140 

Liberty Bell, 143 

Lighting, 90 

" Light Horse Harry," 279 

Lincoln, 258-264, 271-274, 282, 287-288 

Little Giant, the, 254 

Log-cabin campaign, 226 

Long Island, 145 

Louisiana, 107, 182, 198-200, 270 

Louis XIV, 107 

Lusitania, the, 334 

Lynn, 61 

M 

Madison, James, 183-187 
Madison (Wisconsin), 235 
Magellan, 2i 



Maine, 69, 21 1 

Maine, the, 318 

Manassas, 274, 282 

Manhattan Island, 50, 52 

Marietta, 178 

Marquette, James, 105-106 

Maryland, 72-74 

Mason, John, 65 

Massachusetts, 59-63, 133, 139, 273 

Matches, 90, 268 

Maximilian, 293 

Mayflower, the, 55-56, 59 

McCormick, Cyrus, 240-242 

McKinley, William, 315-319, 322 

Mexican War, 230-232 

Mexico, 21, 293, 333 

Mexico (city), 231 

Memphis, 278 

Merriniac, the, 281 

Michigan, 49, 218 

Miles, General, 321 

Milwaukee, 235 

Minnesota, 235, 266 

Minuit, Peter, 52 

Mississippi, 201, 270 

Mississippi River, 21, 277-279 

Missouri Compromise, 210, 255 

Missouri, 205, 210 

Mitchell, John, 326 

Monitor, the, 281 

Monmouth, 153 

Monroe Doctrine, 211-213, 293 

Monroe, James, 207-213 

Montana, 313 

Montcalm, General, 123 

Monterey, 230 

Montgomery, Richard, 157 

Mormons, 238 

Morse, Samuel F. B., 242-243 

Moving pictures, 309 • 



N 



Natchez, 108 
National Road, 215 
Navy, the, 304 
Nebraska, 255, 266 



INDEX 



341 



Neighbors in colonial times, 94 

Nevada, 267 

New Amsterdam, 52, ']'j 

Newark, 146 

Newfoundland, 34 

New Hampshire, 68 

New Haven, 66 

New Jersey, 78-79 

New Mexico, 230, 232, 250, 331 

New Orleans, 108, 199 

New Orleans, battle of, 186 

" New roof," 164 

New York, ']'], 78, 217 

New York City, 52, 145, 167 

Niagara, 122 

Nicholls, Robert, 'j'] 

North Carolina, 74-75, 274 

North Dakota, 313 

Northwest Territory, 170, 178 



Oglethorpe, James, 83 

Ohio, 178, 190, 274, 331 

Oklahoma, 331 

Old Dominion, the, 70 

" Old Hickory," 222 

Oregon, 205, 229, 230, 267 

Oriskany, 149 

Orleans, Territory of, 199 



Pack-horses, 98 

Palo Alto, 230 

Palos, 17 

Panama Canal, 327-329 

Panic of 1893, 314 

Parcel-post, 331 

Parker, Alton B., 328 

Paris, treaties made at, 123, 159 

Parliament, 131 

Patriots, 133 

Peasants, 5 

Pelican, the, 29, 30 

Penn, William, 80 

Pennsylvania, 80-82, 86 

Pequots, 65 



Perry, O. H., 184 

Philadelphia, 81, 82, 85, 86, 164 

Philip II, 28, 30 

Philippine Islands, 319, 322 

Phonograph, 308 

Pierce, Franklin, 253 

Pike's Peak, 266 

Pilgrims, 54-58 

Pillow, Fort, 278 

Pirates, 75 

Pittsburg Landing, 277 

Pizarro, 21 

Plymouth, 53, 55-58 

Plymouth Rock, 56 

Pocahontas, 41-42, 43 

Polk, James K., 229-232 

Ponce de Leon, 21 

Pontiac, 124 

Pony Express, 268 

Porto Rico, 321 

Postal Savings Banks, 331 

Powhatan, 41 

Prairies, 9 

Princeton, 147 

Prophet, the, 191 

Providence, 68 

Provincetown, 55 

Pueblo, 231 

Pure Food Act, 328 

Puritans, 59-63 

Putnam, Rufus, 178 



Quakers, 80 

Quebec, 47, 119, 122, 123 



Railroads, 219, 267, 299 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, ^'^--yi 
Read, Deborah, 118 
Reaper, the, 240-242 
Republican Party, 257 
Rhode Island, 68 
Ribault, Jean, 46 
Richmond, 280, 286 
Roads, 7, 97, 177 



342 



INDEX 



Roanoke Island, 35 

Robertson, James, 128 

Rochester, 218 

Rolfe, John, 43 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 321, 322, 324-329, 

332 
Rough Riders, 320 



Sabbath, 96 

St. Augustine, 46 

St. Clair, Arthur, 171 

St. Leger, General, 149 

St. Louis, 267 

St. Mary's (Maryland), ']2> 

Salem, 59 

Salt Lake City, 238 

Sampson, Admiral, 321 

San Francisco, 237 

San Salvador, 18 

Santa Maria, 17 

Santiago, 320 

Saratoga, 149 

ISavannah, 285 

" Scalawags," 296 

Scalp-lock, II 

Schenectady, iii 

Schley, Commodore, 321 

Schools in colonial times, 99-101 

Scotch-Irish, 85 

Scott, Winfield, 230, 232 

Scrooby, 54 

Secession, 224, 270 

Seminoles, 209 

Sera pis, the, 156 

Serfs, 5 

Sevier, John, 128 

Sewing-machine, 177, 243 

Shays's Rebellion, 164 

Sherman, William T., 284-286 

Shiloh, 277 

Sitting Bull, 298 

Slavery, 43, 70, 210-21 1, 248, 250, 251, 

282, 292 
Smith, John, 38-43 / 

South Carolina, 74-75, 223, 224, 270 



South Dakota, 313 

Spain, 16, 19, 22, 27-28, 31, 317, 322 

Spinning, 92 

Springfield, 164 

Sports, 102 

Squanto, 57 

Stamp Act, 130, 132 

Standish, Miles, 55, 58 

Stark, John, 149 

" Star-spangled Banner," 186 

Staten Island, 145 

Steam, 6, 269 

Steamboats, 177, 193 

Stockton, Commodore, 232 

Strikes, 314, 326 

Stuyvesant, Peter, yy, 80 

Submarines, 335 

Sumter, Fort, 272 

Swedes, 79 

Syracuse, 218 



Taft, William H., 330-332 

Tankard, 91 

Tariff, 170, 312 

Taylor, Zachary, 230, 233, 252 

Teachers, 100 

" Tea Party," the, 134 

Tecumseh, 190, 191, 200 

Telegraph, the, 242, 269 

Telephone, 177, 309-310 

Tennessee, 128, 175, 274 

Texas, 228, 270 

Three R's, 100 

Ticonderoga, Fort, 148 

Tilden, Samuel J., 302 

Tippecanoe, 191 

Tithing-man, 96 

Tobacco, 43, 70 

Tomahawk, 12 

Toys, 102 

Travel, 7, 97, 177 

Trenchers, 91 

Trenton, 147 

Turks, 14 

Tyler, John, 226, 228 



RD-232 



INDEX 



343 



U 

" Underground railway," 249 
Union Pacific Railroad, 299 
Utah, 238, 250, 251 



Van Buren, Martin, 225 
Vail, Alfred, 243 

/"alley Forge, 148 

/era Cruz, 231, 334 
Vermont, 175 

Vespucius, Americus, 23-24 
Vevay, Indiana, 194 

/icksburg, 278, 279 

/ilia, Francisco, 334 

Vincennes, 155 

Vinland, 25 

Virginia, 35, 3^44, 70-72, 119, 214, 274, 

331, 333 
Von Steuben, Baron, 148 

W 

War of 1812, 184-187 
Washington (City), 176, 186 
Washington (State), 267, 313 



Washington, George, 112-116, 120-121, 

138, 145-148, 153, 159, 167-173, 175 
Watauga, 128 
Wayne, Anthony, 171 
Weaving, 92 

Webster, Daniel, 247, 250 
West Point, 157 
Weyler, General, 317 
Wheeler, Joseph, 319 
Wheelwright, John, 68 
Whisky Rebellion, 170 
White Plains, 146 
White, John, 2^ 
Whitney, Eli, 196-198 
Wigwam, 11 
Williams, Roger, 67-68 
Wilmington, 79, 148 
Wilson, Woodrow, 332-335 
Winthrop, John, 60-63 
Wisconsin, 49, 235 
Wolfe, General, 123 
Wood, Leonard, 321 
World's Columbian Exposition, 314 
Wyoming, 313 



Yorktown, 159 
Young, Brigham, 238 






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